The Governance Improvement Committee, which is a special group comprised of one supervisor from each district, met Thursday at SeaBreeze Recreation Center. During Thursday’s meeting, members of the committee and residents expressed thoughts and ideas on the relationship between supervisors and their constituents. The group generally discusses topics that the different districts deem merit more discussion, as well as topics of interest to the public.

“In my own district, there’s just a blatant lack of involvement,” said District 1 supervisor Ellen Cora. “I see with some of the newer Villages that there is a lot more involvement and that makes me feel hopeful,” she explained.

“I personally get more calls as a VHA representative than I do as a supervisor of district 2,” said John Blum, supervisor in District 2. Committee members discussed increased awareness through publication of district information at post offices and in media outlets, emphasizing that making that information available might be the difference between hearing from constituents and not.

Amidst the discussion, a resident suggested that the impression given by the supervisors during meetings could be the cause behind residents’ lack of participation. Elaborating on this point, Jerry Vicenti, supervisor from District 7, indicated that supervisors sometimes gave the false impression that efficiency is tied to the length of the meeting itself.

“At our meetings, I personally think that we do have supervisors that do that. They come in and the first thing they’re looking at is the clock. What the perception is is that a quick meeting is the best…If you’re in there an hour and a half instead of 40 minutes, I personally think that’s a better meeting. I think if you ask a lot of questions as a supervisor, you’re doing your job. Because questions reflect more questions, and you get more things done – it’s part of brainstorming,” explained Vicenti.

Chairman Bill Ray and supervisor Cora agreed that considerations including reducing the number of meetings scheduled for the various Community Development Districts (CDD’s) would ultimately not help quell the problem.

“I can only speak for District 1 – some months we have 15 people come with an issue. Other months there might be one, or even none…the idea is that we need to be there for them,” said Cora of the role of the supervisors.

For more information on the supervisors that service a particular district, visit www.districtgov.org/yourdistrict/index.aspx. All contact information including email and phone number is listed for all district supervisors.