Report to the Board of County Commissioners
March 1, 2011
1- Mr. James Harris, Tax Collector, would like to inform the Board that his office will be publishing the tax rolls soon. He wants the Board to know that he contacted Mr. David Mills, Franklin Chronicle, and Mr. Mills told him the Chronicle was no longer in business. Mr. Harris will be soliciting a bid from The Times.
2- Mr. Harry Lee Smith, President of Emerald Coast Federal Credit Union, has approached the county regarding expanding into the county. Mr. Smith is seeking letters of invitation from the county as well as the City of Carrabelle. Mr. Smith already has one from the City of Apalachicola. I spoke to Mr. Smith last week and he asked for the letters saying that he needed them for some purpose.
The Board may recall that Tyndall Federal Credit Union did respond to the Board’s letter and said they would let the Board know by the end of April if they would expand into Franklin County. Does the Board want to send a letter of invitation to Emerald Credit?
3- Board action on a revised Resolution from the 7 impacted counties. Two of the counties west of Franklin asked for changes. Pass out revised Resolution with new language underlined. Board action to rescind Resolution passed at the Feb. 15 meeting and to adopt revised Resolution.
4- Inform the Board that DOT has released their 2010/2011 Transportation Enhancement Projects. The Board submitted a variety of bike path projects. None were funded for construction, but the Alligator Point path was funded for engineering and design. The projects that were not funded were: Carrabelle Beach (from Tillie Miller Bridge to Carrabelle Beach); Bayshore Drive Path (US 98 to the base of the St. George Island Bridge); Island Drive (US 98 along Island Drive to base of St. George Island Bridge).
The county was encouraged to re-apply but the letter did not say when the new application will begin. We will continue to monitor the grant cycle.
There has been no announcement on that much larger grant cycle we applied for, and that was money to pave several long collector roads around the county.
5- The Indian Creek Park project is complete as far as the Riverkeeper grant requirements. There will be a dedication some time in April.
6- Inform the Board that Mr. Chuck Colvert, Weems Hospital CEO, announced his retirement to the Hospital Board at the Feb. 24 Hospital Board meeting. His retirement would be effective in 3 months to give time for the replacement process to be completed. The Hospital CEO and the Director of Nursing are actually TMH employees so TMH is taking the lead in advertising the position in the appropriate outlets. I spoke with Jason Moore, TMH COO, yesterday morning. He is meeting with Mr. Mark O’Brien, TMH CEO, to finalize the hiring plan. I asked him to allow the county commission an opportunity to make sure the final candidates will be a good fit in the community. Mr. Moore said he expects that TMH would narrow the search down to the best 3-5 applicants, and then send them down to Franklin County with the expectation that a recommendation would come back on which applicant would be the best fit. TMH would then hire that applicant. Mr. Moore wants to make sure the Board understands that sometimes the best candidates are already employed and there is a certain responsibility for applicant confidentiality so it might not be possible for the top candidates to meet with the Board in a public setting. Mr Moore said he and Mr. O’Brien are very sensitive to the Board wanting to make sure there is a good fit between the community and the Hospital CEO. He said he would get back with me before they finalized the hiring procedure.
The last accounting of Hospital funds has some $175,000 in operating, and $400,000 in Capital Outlay. There is also a $100,000 CD that is not included in the operating account.
7- Inform the Board that US Dept. of Energy personnel and personnel from the Governor’s Energy Office made a site visit last week to see our energy retrofit projects. The site visit went well and they seemed impressed with our projects. The federal personnel reminded me that the all energy grants have a provision that all products purchased with grant funds must be made in America. I inquired if that was really feasible given the reduction in American industrial production and everything being made in China. I am specifically concerned with solar panels and window components being actually made in America. They were very adamant that the Made in America requirement be met and they are enforcing it by requiring any contractor involved in these grants get certifications from the manufacturer that the products are made in America.
I am saying this now to put potential contractors on notice to check their suppliers to make sure they can verify their products are made in America.
8- Remind the Board and the public that a military operation is being conducted in our area from Feb. 28 through March 11. Air Force Special Operations is hosting a field exercise designed to train forces in combat scenarios. It will take place in training areas around Apalachicola, Hurlburt Field and Eglin Range. Media inquires should be directed to Air Force public affairs at 850-884-5515. If the exercises go properly the public will never see anything.
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