A candidate for a vacancy on the Community Development District 7 Board of Supervisors has aired his beliefs about the Developer and the Morse Boulevard bridge.
Gilbert Windsor of the Village of Bonita is one of two applicants for the vacancy on the board created earlier this year by the resignation of Supervisor Dennis Broedlin. The other applicant is Joy Lewis, who could not be present at CDD 7’s meeting Thursday morning at Savannah Center.
Windsor was interviewed by the board and did not hold back on his feelings when it comes to the Developer and the bridge, topics tied to the No. 1 issue on CDD 7’s plate – the future of the Project Wide Advisory Committee.
“I’m not against the Developer. I’m totally against greed,” Windsor said. “I don’t care about the Morse family, let them make all the money they want. But I am sick of the greed.”
He explained that the Developer is free to engage in the profitable business of building and selling homes, but pushing the 25 percent tax increase through the Sumter County Commission in 2019 for the construction of roads south of State Road 44 was not appropriate. Windsor was active in the 2020 campaign which swept in three new commissioners.
Windsor also pointed to the Morse Boulevard bridge, where PWAC has agreed to spend more than $1 million of residents’ money to shore up the embankment.
“The bridge is a sore subject with me,” Windsor said.
He said he has contacted the Florida Department of Transportation for dates and information about the construction of the bridge. He indicated he’d like to get to the bottom of what truly happened to cause the sloughing at the bridge embankment.
“Morse should be responsible for that bridge. He built it,” Windsor said.
The former Maryland resident may have hit a snag with the board over the future of PWAC. He said he favors withdrawing from PWAC, which eats up 49 percent of the CDD 7 budget.
“We can take care of ourselves,” Windsor said.
However, CDD 7 Board Chairman Jerry Vicenti pointed out that supervisors aren’t looking to exit PWAC, which pools the resources of the community development districts south of County Road 466 to pay for joint infrastructure.
“We don’t want to get out of PWAC. We just want to change the language of the agreement,” Vicenti said.
CDD 7 supervisors went out and hired independent legal counsel in an effort to change the language in the 20-year PWAC agreement. The supervisors believe that the word “advisory” cedes all the power to the Sumter Landing Community Development District Board of Supervisors, made of individuals who are hand picked by the Developer.
The CDD 7 Board of Supervisors opted to delay the selection of the new supervisor until August when both candidates can be present.