To the Editor:
I attended Tuesday night’s (9/19/23) (Sumter County) Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting and I offer the following comments:
• The chairman Crag Estep was not present due to being hospitalized.
• The Vice Chairman Roberta Ulrich conducted the meeting.
• Ulrich had at times showed a lack of preparation and difficulty to who
made motions and who second motions. Note: The audio of this meeting is on the County website.
• Village Public Safety Department (Village Fire Department ) was up
for discussion. BOCC’s proposal to create a “Dependent” District
would not become effective until OCTOBER 2024.
• Per Ulrich “time is of essence to appoint the future board of supervi
sors for the new dependent fire district. The developer thru District Manager Kenny Blocker submitted to the BOCC five persons to serve as their choice. Ulrich made a motion to accept Developer’s choice of supervisors to control the new fire district. The motion died for lack of a second. Who asked the Developer to submit names when in fact there is no dependent district established?
• There were three proposals before the BOCC as to the process and only the process of appointing new supervisors once a dependent district is established. One was each Commissioner nominate a supervisor. Second have all candidates submit applications and BOCC to choose final vetted five persons. Third is the submitted approved persons by the Developer.
• Ulrich was forced to read into the record all three proposals. Before that Ulrich immediately made motion to accept the Developer’s chosen five. BOCC voted to accept Proposal 2 where all applications will be vetted and the BOCC will choose the final five.
Gilbert Windsor
Village of Bonita
