The Lake-Sumter Metropolitan Planning Organization came under fire Tuesday night at a meeting of the Sumter County Board.
Commissioner Don Burgess, who represents Sumter County on the MPO’s executive committee, said the organization faces continued scrutiny from the Florida Department of Transportation over submission of operating reports and quarterly updates.
He said some invoices submitted to FDOT for highway funding have been rejected.
Other commissioners also voiced concerns about the MPO.
“It seems to be on a downhill spiral and not improving,” said Commissioner Garry Breeden. “It appears to be that we have substantial issues.”
Board Chairman Doug Gilpin said the problems could jeopardize highway funding.
“There is a leadership issue and it puts us in a level of higher scrutiny,” he said.
The decade-old Lake-Sumter MPO is the lead agency for regional transportation issues in Lake and Sumter counties and helps to allocate millions of federal transportation dollars each year.
Last year, an internal audit questioned appropriate use of funds and found that employees were estimating instead of tracking actual time spent on grant activities.
In other business, commissioners:
- Honored Bill Gottschalk upon his departure from Sumter County SPCA/Humane Society. Gottschalk, who spearheaded a working agreement between the county and humane society, reported that more than 3,000 animals have been saved in the past two years and 800 have been spayed or neutered during the past year.
- Approved an amendment to the comprehensive land use map to reflect property annexed by Wildwood.
