Frustrated by what they say is a lack of improvement, Sumter County officials have petitioned the governor’s office to abolish the Lake-Sumter Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Sumter County Board Chairman Doug Gilpin said he and County Administrator Bradley Arnold met with the governor’s staff Monday in Tallahassee to request dissolution of the transportation planning agency.
Gilpin said he asked that Sumter County be reassigned to MetroPlan Orlando, the metropolitan planning organization for Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.
“This is a dysfunctional group,” he said Tuesday night of the Lake-Sumter MPO executive committee. “There is no desire by that (MPO) executive committee to fulfill it’s statutory requirements.”
Founded more than a decade ago, the Lake-Sumter Metropolitan Planning Organization is the lead agency for regional transportation issues in Lake and Sumter counties. It helps to allocate millions in road project dollars each year.
Last year, an internal audit questioned the MPO’s appropriate use of funds and found that employees were estimating rather than tracking time spent on grant activities. The agency also came under the scrutiny of the Florida Department of Transportation, which withheld some grant funds because of late or improperly submitted quarterly reports.
The MPO recently hired a private company to handle some of its reporting duties and other tasks.
Sumter County Commissioner Don Burgess, who serves on the executive committee, said he was concerned this week that other committee members did not take a recent critical letter from FDOT more seriously.
Sumter County officials have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the agency over the past several months. They were disappointed that the executive committee two months ago developed a work plan for MPO executive director T.J. Fish instead of firing him.
“We’re going to find out from the governor’s office what options we would have,” Gilpin said.
