The Village Center Community Development District agreed Tuesday to move ahead with spending $1 million to purchase a fuel depot from a company owned by the Developer.
The vote was 5-0 and there was no discussion.
The 2.35 acres of property are located at 8560 NE 44th Drive in Wildwood. The depot currently serves as a fueling station for Rainey Construction.
The depot could be converted to a fueling station for Community Watch vehicles and the District’s “white fleet,” – the numerous cars and trucks used by Community Standards, the Recreation Department, Property Management and others. Community Watch drivers log more than one million miles each year.
In addition, the depot could potentially fuel the trash collection vehicles operated by the North Sumter County Utility Dependent District, which oversees sanitation in Community Development Districts 1 through 11.
Deputy District Manager Kenneth Blocker said there are “many advantages” to having the District operate its own fuel depot.
He said that with the District buying in bulk they “can usually outperform the market price by 30 to 40 percent” for a savings of about $100,000 per year.
“We could see a tremendous amount of savings,” Blocker told the board.
In addition, in emergencies such as hurricanes when the availability of fuel can be scarce, the District’s vehicles would keep rolling.
The vote was the first step in the process of purchasing the fueling station. The due diligence period, including environmental assessment, could take several months.
The Developer purchased the construction company from longtime friend Ike Rainey in 2018. Rainey turned around and spent millions of dollars in 2019 to purchase the plush horse farm, Padua Stables, on U.S. 301 in Summerfield.
