Looking Forward: Century Holds Visioning Day
May 20, 2009
Century held a day-long “visioning day” Tuesday to take a look at what the town has to offer and to discuss ways to make it a better place.
Participants representing many state, federal and local agencies joined business and community leaders for a bus tour of Century. Following the bus tour and lunch, participants listened to information about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Fund and held an open group discussion about the town’s needs.
The visioning day gave the participants an opportunity to become familiar with the economic and community development environment in Century with the goal of fostering new partnerships between government, community and industry.
Joseph Mueller, Florida state acting director for the USDA Rural Development program, was joined by program directors to present an overview of agency programs in housing, utilities, community facilities and business programs that might benefit the Century community.
“We want to give you the help you need to complete the visioning process,” Mueller told the group.
The bus tour highlighted several locations around town. After visiting the Century Industrial Park, the group had the opportunity to see Century Woods Apartments, a USDA Rural Development project.
The bus tour also included the Habitat for Opportunity Building on Pond Street, Showalter Park, Carver/Century K-8 School, the Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company building, Camellia Gardens Apartments, the Anthony Pleasant Sports Complex, and Oakwood Village.
For more photos from the Visioning Day, click here.
Pictured above: The Century Visioning Day bus tour passes the empty Helicopter Technologies building in the town’s Industrial Park. Pictured below: Participants take part in the day’s events. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Lovely Weather For A Bath
May 19, 2009
Monday’s mild weather provided the perfect opportunity for a splash in the official NorthEscambia.com cheap plastic bird bath. Today’s weather will be mild as well, with a high forecast in the upper 70’s under sunny skies. A chance of rain returns to the forecast at 40 percent for Wednesday. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Century Appoints Council Member’s Father-In-Law To Consolidation Committee
May 19, 2009
The Town of Century has named their appointee to the consolidated government study commission created by the Florida Legislature.
The council, on a 3-2 vote, named Charles Scott, Sr. to the commission. Scott is the father-in-law of Century council member Sharon Scott. He was nominated to the post by Mayor Freddie McCall.
Councilman Henry Hawkins and Ann Brooks cast their votes to appoint Century resident Annie Savage to the commission.
“He’s my father-in-law. I got to vote for him,” council member Scott said of her vote for her father-in-law. “I want somebody that can get around,” she told Savage, who can often be seen walking with a cane at Century Town Council and Escambia County School Board meetings.
“I presume that this thing isn’t going to fly,” McCall said of the consolidation that must be approved by voters in 2010 prior to combining the governments of Century, Pensacola and Escambia County into one. “It’s the City of Pensacola gurus that are behind this.”
“In case this happens, we need to have a part in it,” Council President Ann Brooks said.
Century was given one of 25 seats on the consolidation committee.
Century Explores Getting Into Broadband Business
May 19, 2009
The Town of Century will get into the broadband Internet business if a Virginia consultant’s plan is approved by the town’s council.
Rodney Thomas, of the Richmond, Virginia, firm Resources Building Tomorrow, LLC, presented a proposal to the council Monday night to build a wireless broadband system in the town with federal grant money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Fund.
“This is something that is becoming as necessary as water, sewer and electricity in your community,” Thomas told the council of the plan dubbed the “Century Community Access Network”.
Under the plan, Thomas said residents would be charged $34 a month for broadband access, $10 of which would go to the town. “If you have 500 subscribers, you have $5,000 to go back to the town. If you have 5,000 subscribers, you have $50,000 in one month,” he said. The written proposal he provided council members was based up 1,721 households in Century The U.S. Census Bureau’s estimated population of Century was 1,923 total persons in 2007.
The project would also attempt to generate revenue be selling advertising on a community home page that all subscribers would be forced to visit upon signing onto the service.
When asked by NorthEscambia.com Publisher William Reynolds how fast the broadband service would be, Thomas replied that it would be “broadband speed”. When pressed for a further answer to define how fast “broadband speed” would be, Thomas said he did not know technical answers. Looking through some papers, he said that it would use “802.11n” routers, a not yet defined standard that provides speeds up to 108 Mbit per second. But Thomas did not provide an actual speed estimate for the internet connection.
Century businessman Jack Moran, saying that he has been Thomas’ friend for five years, told the council, “I am put off by the hostility of the tone of some of the questions. I am not the computer geek that William is, but I know something about it. This is an opportunity for Century to…bring itself into the 21st century.”
Thomas told the council that he could have a technical expert visit a future council meeting to explain some of the technical aspects of the service and provide a working demonstration.
The Century Community Access Network would work by placing a wireless, or wi-fi, antenna on a location such as a water tower. The signal from that antenna would be amplified and repeated by smaller antennas around town, providing services to wireless routers placed in homes or businesses.
Coming up Wednesday: NorthEscambia.com’s publisher will take a more in-depth look at the Century Community Access Network plan, and explain the reasoning behind the questions referenced in the article above.
Pictured above: Consultant Rodney Thomas (left) explains the proposed Century broadband network Monday night while Jack Moran (right) looks on. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Updated: Security Doors Being Installed At Molino Park, EWMS, Northview
May 19, 2009
(Updated 11:00 a.m.) The Escambia County School District is spending $210,105 to install two security doors at each of 29 schools, including Northview High School, Molino Park Elementary and Ernest Ward Middle School.
The doors can be locked and unlocked from a central access point in each school’s office and include a panic button to quickly control the doors. The doors provide a level of defense against a school intruder, according to officials.
Each school on the list of 29 will receive $348 worth of electric hinges, doors valued at $1,824; an access panel for $1,581;two panic buttons for $792 and $600 worth of wiring for the door.
A company representative for Warren Hollow Metal Doors said that while Bratt Elementary was originally approved by the school board for a set of the doors, Bratt had declined the installation. The doors originally intended for Bratt will now be installed at Northview.
The doors will be paid for from the school district’s budgeted Access Control Revenue fund.
Ernest Ward Students Participate In Public Speaking Contest
May 19, 2009
Sixth grade students at Ernest Ward Middle School recently participated in a public speaking contest with one student advancing to take third place in the entire county.
Every sixth grader at EWMS took part in a school-wide 4-H Tropicana Public Speaking Competition. School winners were Tamara Wise, first place; Morgan Ward, second place; Shalmali Bhadkamkar, third place; and Tristan Portwood, honorable mention.
Tamara represented EWMS at the county contest at the 4-H Langley Bell Center, placing third in the county. It was a close contest; the top three contestants were separated by just three points.
Sheriff’s Town Hall Meeting Thursday
May 19, 2009
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan will hold a town hall meeting at the Southern Panhandle Restaurant in Century at 6:00 Thursday evening.
The public is invited to attend. Morgan will discuss law enforcement issues across the county as well as local issues impacting North Escambia. The sheriff will also accept questions for the audience.
Avoid Outdoor Burning Tuesday
May 19, 2009
Officials with the Florida Division of Forestry’s Blackwater Forestry Center are advising the public that outdoor burning should be avoided today.
According to Ben Wolcott, Operations Administrator for the Division of Forestry, “Conditions are conducive to wildfires due to forecasted wind gusts up to 30 mph, humidity below 30 percent, and highly unstable atmospheric conditions. We only had a nominal amount of rainfall on Sunday; also, we have sent numerous resources to assist with the disastrous wildfires in central and south Florida, so our ability to respond to a wildfire within the tri-county district is reduced.”
Wolcott adds, “It’s much better to wait a few days, than to find yourself responsible for the cost of putting out a wildfire and for damage to the property of other persons.”
There are currently 193 active wildfires burning over 17,000 acres under state jurisdiction.
For more information about outdoor burning rules, contact the Florida Division of Forestry at (850) 957-6145 or visit www.fl-dof.com.
Blog: Publisher’s Decision On Consolidation Committee Service
May 18, 2009
One of the 25 seats on the commission created by the Florida Legislature to study governmental consolidation was offered to the publisher of NorthEscambia.com by Escambia Commissioner Kevin White.
But after much thought and consideration, I will decline to accept the position. The simple answer? Florida’s “Sunshine Law”. The longer answer? For that, let’s take a look at some background.
Background
Each Escambia County Commissioner is allowed one appointee to the study commission that was created by the Legislature to draft a proposal that would combine the governments of Century, Pensacola and Escambia County into one, if approved by voters. Once a consolidation plan is created by the study commission, it is to be submitted to the Escambia County Commission, the City of Pensacola and the Town of Century for action before submission to the Escambia County legislative delegation by January 15, 2010. Once approved by the legislature, the plan would be presented to Escambia County voters.
A person that serves on the committee is not necessarily for or against consolidation. The commission will not study if there should be consolidation. It will create a plan for consolidation that goes into effect if approved by the voters according to a bill already signed by the governor. A special interest group “All For One” lobbied the Florida Legislature to mandate the creation of the commission, and a bill sponsored by Rep. Greg Evers passed this past session to create the study committee.
The question of whether or not there should be a consolidated government will be answered by the voters in 2010.
The Need
The idea of serving on the consolidation committee seemed like a very good thing in the beginning. The committee will be made up of 25 members, very few of which will have connection whatsoever directly to North Escambia, District 5 or anything north of 9 Mile Road.
As publisher of NorthEscambia.com, I have seen the interests and needs of North Escambia residents, and NorthEscambia.com has worked to give our communities a real voice in this county. Serving on the committee would have been a great opportunity for your voices to be heard directly in the creation of the consolidation document.
The Sunshine Law
But another serious question became more important. After consulting with a couple of attorneys and the Florida Attorney General’s Office, there would very likely be a problem with serving on the consolidation committee and publishing NorthEscambia.com.
In a simple nutshell, Florida’s Open Government and Public Records laws, commonly called the “Sunshine Laws”, prohibit the member of a committee from speaking to any other committee member about items that will be voted on, or recommended by that committee. It turns out the whole “freedom of the press” thing can actually be constricted by the state’s open government laws.
If Mr. John Q. Public where chairman of the consolidation study commission, I could not call Mr. Public and ask him questions about the consolidation for a story on NorthEscambia.com. It was also the consensus of the attorneys that I spoke with, both of which are very versed in the Sunshine Laws, that I could not easily have an employee call Mr. Public and ask those questions.
I could serve on the committee and report on what happens in any meeting. That would not be a problem. But presenting an issue to a committee member and questioning their motives following a meeting could not be done. A violation, by the way, is a criminal offense that can land you in jail.
I feel that I can best work to ensure that the commission does not forget North Escambia as a journalist, not as a committee member. It’s no secret — I don’t believe this 25 member committee will have the best interests of North Escambia in mind. I really doubt that many of them will even understand much about North Escambia beyond what they have seen at 65 mph along Highway 29.
As a journalist, I can present the issues and questions directly to each and every committee member and the public as often and as strongly as I wish. As a committee member, my input would be limited to only meetings.
As a journalist, I can call committee members and ask how they plan to vote on a particular issue and print those answers, thereby possibly influencing the total vote of the commission. As a committee member, I could not.
If I were a committee member, the only consolidation commission reports you would read on NorthEscambia.com would be from meetings themselves. Residents of North Escambia would have to rely on the Pensacola News Journal and Channel 3 to look out for our interests with the hard hitting, direct questions with North Escambia in mind. Yeah, right.
At this point, it is not a matter whether you are for or against consolidation. What matters at this point is the fact the legislature, because of Greg Evers’ bill, has mandated the creation of the consolidation commission and plan. We must as the communities of North Escambia fight to make sure we are not forgotten in the document headed to voters, just in case it should pass.
It’s much like hurricane season. You can very much not want a hurricane, but when the warnings are issued you better get prepared to defend your position.
As a journalist, I will continue to represent North Escambia stronger than would ever be possible as a consolidation committee member. Each of you have served to make NorthEscambia.com a powerful voice. As a committee member, I would have been once voice in the process. As NorthEscambia.com, we will be thousands and thousands of voices, and votes, looking out for our neighbors.
I invite your comments below.
Escambia Commission: Back Off From Gov’t Consolidation Committee
May 18, 2009
Escambia County is taking a hands off approach, backing away from assisting a governmental consolidation study commission order by the state legislature.
The Florida Legislature approved a Greg Evers sponsored bill to form the commission to create a plan for a 2010 public vote that, if approved, will consolidate the governments of Escambia County, Pensacola and Century.
“I don’t want to spend time; I don’t want to spend minutes, advertisements, and any of those things,” said Commissioner Wilson Robertson at a recent Escambia County Commission Committee of the Whole meeting. “I don’t want to have to provide the spaces for them. I just don’t want us by accident to evolve into the lead agency…I just don’t want us to take the lead.”
The group All For One was the group behind the consolidation bill, having approached Escambia County, Century and Pensacola for support.
“They were not asking us to spend on dime on this study,” Robertson said of All For One’s presentation to the commission. “Then we were cautioned by a legislator that the way the bill was going to be written, that they may come back and the county be liable…for all the time, the space, the advertising, the clerical work and all this. This could cost a ton of money.”
The Town of Century originally approved a resolution in support of the All For One plan, but later rescinded their vote for the plan after receiving the same caution from a member of the legislature that Mayor Freddie McCall identified as Greg Evers, the bill sponsor.
“I will not support us being the lead or spending the money,” Robertson, the District 1 commissioner, said.
The final version of the bill approved by the Legislature said that “The board or other governmental entities may furnish the commission with such services, office space, and supplies as may be requested by the commission and approved by the board of other governmental entities.” It continues, “The City of Pensacola, the Town of Century and Escambia County may provide reasonable technical, legal and clerical assistance to the commission.”
County Administrator Bob McLaughlin said the co-chairs of All for All approached Commission Chairperson Marie Young and asked for the county to initiate the process of scheduling the consolidation commission’s first meeting. He said that since an elected official could not take part in the consolidation commission, he made a decision to start the process.
“I stepped up and said that we would just go ahead and do the preparation or the initiation process, and that’s all we have committed to do,” the administrator said.”All we are doing is just taking them to that first organizational meeting.
“It was sent to me…we discussed that it was illegal for an elected official, and I carried it to Bob,” Young said of the All For One request. “We just decided that we would take care of their logistics in terms of calling the meetings, two meetings, and then we are finished.”
Commissioner Grover Robinson said he had a problem with not allowing the consolidation commission to use county facilities for public meetings.
“It’s not our responsibility. They can use the facilities, but let them make the arrangements,” Robertson said.
“We made it very clear when they came that we were not going to give them a dime,” District 5 Commissioner Kevin White said.
Besides assistance with scheduling meetings, the group has also asked McLaughlin to have the county establish the fund raising account for the group. That mention resulted in a resounding “no” from Commissioner White.
“They know that the funding and the charitable giving right now, and the economy right now is so bad…they will have a lot of trouble raising the kinds of funds they will need to see this through,” Robertson said, adding that he expects the group will end up asking the city and county for a lot more money than was anticipated.”We made it clear from day one, we wouldn’t going to pay for any of it. I just don’t want to see us gradually sucked into this. I just know that’s how people operate.”
“If they use a community center, they’ve got to do like anyone else,” White said, “pay to use it.”
McLaughlin (pictured left) said he has already sent a letter on county letterhead to each organization making an appointment to the committee asking for their appointee’s name.
“Why don’t they have letterhead that says ‘All For One’?” Robertson asked. “Why aren’t they doing all of this? I’m missing something here.”
Robinson said All for One could not send out the letters because the are the political action committee supporting the consolidation. He said he had no problem with what county staff has done to date.
“I’ve read the entire bill, and it says nothing about what governmental body takes the lead,” Robertson said.
White said the board should have provided direction to McLaughlin not to meet with All for One members, adding “That’s where we messed up.”
“I just think we need to back off as much as we can and let the city, and let the All for One, and let’s just don’t make this a county project.”
Commissioners instructed McLaughlin to continue to help organize the organization meeting of the consolidation commission and no more.
“It is not a county initiative. Never has been, never was intended to be,” Robertson added. “The city is seemingly not involved whatsoever.”