Villagers packed Monday morning’s Project Wide Advisory Committee meeting to show their support for an official who spoke out last month about government that seems to favor the Developer rather than the residents.
Agenda materials released in advance of Monday’s meeting suggested that PWAC member Jerry Vicenti was going to be on the hot seat for comments he made last month in which he assailed the “dictatorship” in government in The Villages.
So many residents showed up at Monday’s meeting that extra chairs had to be hauled in to accommodate the crowd. Some District staff members wound up standing through the 90-minute meeting due to the shortage of seats.
PWAC Chairman Peter Moeller had taken the unusual step of having a verbatim transcript from that July meeting prepared for the agenda. However, Vicente used the transcript in his defense. He said he behaved respectfully and in the best interest of the residents. You can read the entire transcript at this link: 7-8-19_Verbatim
Vicenti repeated his assertion that the government structure in The Villages gives the commercial entities too much power. He said members of those boards are handpicked by the Developer and many do not reside in The Villages.
“My job is to represent the majority of the residents, especially District 7,” said Vicenti, a CDD 7 supervisor.
He thanked the Villagers who attended Monday’s meeting for their support.
