Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Florida Online Virtual Schools Outscore AP Tests from Regular Schools & Cost $2159 Less

2012-01-23T09:36:11-05:00

Tavares, FL - JN. 23, 2012- SunshineStateNews.com reports that Florida's virtual online school for K-12 students is getting higher scores on AP (Advanced Placement) tests than regular schools, AND it costs $2159 less than regular schools to do so.

Read and understand... competition once again hits the union dominated teacher ranks, and shows how well routine tasks can be implemented. We do know that Florida recently mandated that online classes be given also by local school districts, which means the unions may dominate that new skills area and be a reason for increased costs.

However, we do understand that the online courses may be designed to enable passing tests, but perhaps not on how to think.

In other words, will we just be getting robots that are good at test taking? Are online learning software programs also available to teach critical thinking and other non-rote learning skills? I think so, but that is another story.

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/spending-2159-less-student-online-school-outscores-florida-campuses-ap-exams?utm_source=constantcontact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=012312

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Phyllis Schlafly on the "Mischief of Agenda 21"

2012-01-20T12:45:14-05:00

This EagleForum,org article is a good overview of the United Nations' Agenda 21 Plan to move to a One World Order and implement socialism in the US and other countries.

If you search on "Agenda 21" on their site you will find other articles also.

From:

http://www.eagleforum.org/psr/2011/dec11/psrdec11.html

The Mischief of Agenda 21

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa opening on November 28, called COP-17, is one of a series of UN meetings working toward a specific goal. Advertising for this meeting featured a long list of invited celebrities including Angelina Jolie, U2's Bono, Ted Turner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore, and Michael Bloomberg.

The UN goal is to move the United States into global government by environmental regulations and a vast network of taxes. These newly-imposed taxes will give the UN a tremendous stream of money in addition to U.S. dues and congressional appropriations.

The plan for taxes was launched at the 1992 UN meeting in Rio de Janeiro, known as the Earth Summit, where Conference Secretary General Maurice Strong produced a 300-page document with 40 proposals called Agenda 21. The tax-seeking route then proceeded through UN meetings in Cancun in 2010, in Durban this November, and will be finalized next year at what is called Rio+20 (i.e., Rio de Janeiro after 20 years).

Agenda 21 is a comprehensive master plan to reshape and control the U.S. and lock us into the clutches of the UN under the innocuous phrase Sustainable Development. Along with 178 countries, President George H.W. Bush accepted Agenda 21 as "soft law" adopted by a new tactic called collaborative consensus building, instead of by treaty.

Bush popularized the term New World Order, but left it for others to define. Mikhail Gorbachev said the threat of an environmental crisis will be the international key to unlock the New World Order, and President Bill Clinton issued an Executive Order in 1993 creating the President's Council on Sustainable Development.

Advocates of Agenda 21 talk about the three E's of Sustainable Development: Economy, Equity, and Environment.

Equity means replacing our American constitutional system with central planning and "social justice," which is a code word for redistribution of wealth, abolition of private property rights, and giving favored corporations tax breaks, grants, and use of Eminent Domain.

Economy means shifting from a private enterprise system to government-private-corporation-partnerships. That would be a giant step toward total government and UN control of our economy, with the ability to redistribute our goods and services to foreign countries.

Environment means giving animals and plants more rights or at least equal rights with humans. It also promotes worship of nature and Mother Earth.

To talk about Agenda 21, you will have to get used to a new vocabulary: green jobs, green building codes, going green, regional planning, smart growth, biodiversity, sustainable farming, growth management, resilient cities, sustainable communities, redistribution, urban growth boundaries, redevelopment districts, and consensus.

Agenda 21 wants to herd people into crowded communities, with limited housing space and limited parking spaces. This will promote the green goal of reducing our use of automobiles, allowing only electric cars that can't go very fast or very far, so people will have to walk and use bicycles and mass transit.

Agenda 21 supports the Wildlands Project, which seeks to re-wild 50% of our nation and turn it into a pre-Columbian wilderness where animals roam freely and humans are crowded into limited spaces. Already, we find that rural roads are not being repaired or maintained.

Agenda 21 has started its attacks on rural and small-town property rights. Six hundred U.S. cities and counties have signed on to ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, pronounced ik-lay), putting themselves indirectly under supervision of UN regulations and restrictions.

Advocates of Agenda 21 believe the earth is overcrowded. They demand an 85% reduction in human population.

It's a major goal of Agenda 21 to lower the U.S. standard of living by cutting our use of energy. Agenda 21 plans to use smart meters, smart grids, and smart growth so that our nation's use of electricity can be controlled, limited, and redistributed.

Schools and universities are important to Agenda 21's goals. The plan is to make them indoctrination institutions, where kids are taught "green" propaganda, as well as global education to make them citizens of the world.

When you get down to the nitty-gritty, what these UN climate conferences are all about is getting the UN to impose taxes that will give the UN an immense flow of money so it doesn't have to worry about Congress cutting off appropriations.

This UN plan means imposing UN taxes on currency transfers, fossil energy production including oil, natural gas and coal, the commercial use of oceans, international airplane tickets, and all foreign exchange transactions.

Taxes of this magnitude would give the UN so much power that it would become a de facto world government. Tell your Members of Congress to pledge that the day the UN adopts this extravagant anti-American nonsense will be the day we say goodbye to the UN.

Another Florida Special "District" Incurs Excessive Costs Without Oversight

2012-01-17T07:15:00-05:00

Jan. 16, 2012 - A Mosquito "Control District" in Lee County, FL with a $22-million budget has run up such high expenses that a Florida Representative has filed a bill to abolish the district and shift its responsibilities to the Lee County government. A retired executive director is the 11th highest paid retiree in the Florida State retiree system. He is collecting over $170,000 in retirement income, which is more than any Lake County staff earns working full time. Here is their website. The original article from SunshineStateNews.com is below.

FiscalRangers.com has consistently reported how the state of Florida does not provide adequate business controls or spending guidelines for about 2000 special local government agencies in Florida, including water districts, hospital districts, county and constitutional officer agencies, CRA's ( and now here is a mosquito district that overspends all others in Florida. We have periodically reported fiscal fiascos in Lake County operations, mismanagement or questionable practices in local agencies like the North Lake County Hospital District, and also reported problems found in other Florida Districts, including voter fraud allowed by Election Supervisors, CRA's and hospital districts.

However, this article doesn't provide much information indicating serious problems, other than one legislator commenting about the highly paid retiree and their large budget (which could be justified according to a document on the district's top webpage). At the very least, it seems an independent performance audit is needed, and a salary review to determine if salaries or spending (such as for aircraft purchasing vs leasing) is appropriate.

In some cases, some special districts practice abuse of power, such as the recent issue where the St. Johns River Water Management District arbitrarily shutoff all water flow from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora. They did it purely for water "quality" reasons and are not required to perform an independent, objective economic impact analysis on such decisions.

Basically, Florida State government provides a process for legislators to create these agencies, but there are no clear spending metrics, operational guidelines or periodic State level performance audits to detect problems early. There isn't even a required, independent County wide internal audit function with full audit authority except for a few County Inspector Generals created due to excess corruption.

The next time you meet your local Florida elected official (Rep. or Senator) ask them why they accept any pay from taxpayers when they don't provide adequate oversight on these local organizations. Or, maybe tell them they lost your vote until there is professional oversight and guidance over these organizations.

Additionally, as a result of reviewing this article, we found that Florida Gov. Scott has issued an Executive Order 12-10 "Review of Special Districts" which assigns his Office of Policy & Budget (OPB) to perform a review of ALL 1600 Florida special districts. The Executive Order is HERE. FiscalRangers.com will publish another article on just this Executive Order after I interview some people. HERE is the press release on this OPB assignment.

Vance Jochim

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http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/print/4364746 <<< Go to see article with picture

Lawmaker: Mosquito District Stings Taxpayers in Lee County

By: Kenric Ward | Posted: January 16, 2012 3:55 AM

Published on Sunshinestatenews.com

Gov. Rick Scott's probe into expenditures at the state's special taxing districts might want to start at Lee County Mosquito Control.

With an annual budget of $22 million, Lee's mosquito district spends more than 46 other mosquito districts -- combined.

"There's no excuse for it," says state Rep. Paige Kreegel, who has introduced legislation that could abolish the district.

Scott last week directed his Office of Policy and Budget to review and make recommendations for cutting costs at some 1,600 special districts levying more than $15 billion in taxes each year.

The governor previously ordered investigations of hospital and water management districts, and has now expanded the scope to all special districts.

Mosquito districts have flown below the political radar because most operate on budgets under $2 million. Even populous counties such as Miami-Dade run their mosquito eradication programs on less than $3 million.

But Lee County, in Southwest Florida, is a glaring exception. With a seven-member elected board and 68 employees, the independent mosquito district's payroll works out to an average of $118,000 per worker.

The district also holds the distinction of having the 11th-highest compensated retiree in the state's pension system. Former executive director T. Wayne Miller, who retired in 1994, currently receives $172,027 a year.

Most counties place mosquito-eradication duties under public works or other departments. Kreegel has found that counties that operate independent districts, such as Lee's, "step up in price to do it."

"The personnel costs are $8 million, and that's a problem" said the Punta Gorda Republican, pointing to Lee's top-heavy staffing. The local mosquito board has two more members than the entire County Commission.

Operationally, Lee's district spends more just on spray, fuel and helicopter maintenance than the total mosquito budgets in neighboring Charlotte or Hendry counties.

Kreegel has introduced House Bill 1395 to require a referendum on the big-spending district. Lee County residents could vote to abolish the district and transfer all assets and liabilities to the Lee County Commission.

Wayne Gale, executive director of the Lee mosquito district, calls HB 1395 "a drastic measure to abolish a district that no local people seem to have a problem with.

"This was pretty much a surprise to us and the county as well.

"We are large because we have the largest mosquito problem in the state," said Gale, who explained that thousands of acres of state-managed salt marshes and islands within the district require aerial treatment.

"No other county has this type of topograghy. We do one-third of all the aerial larvae sightings in the state. Many areas are not accessible by vehicles," Gale said.

Gale reported the district maintains $5 million in reserves for self-insurance and has set aside $1 million for a future hangar.

"We have a lot of expensive aircraft," he noted.

Regarding the pending legislation, Gale said, "We've sent information to the local delegation to answer questions they've had."

Kreegel says "the [district's] defensiveness alone sets off alarms."

Kreegel, a physician, acknowledges it was the Legislature that authorized the creation of mosquito control boards, but says that times have changed.

"Back in the day, the work involved spraying diesel fuel and draining swamps. Now we have a mature industry. The chemicals that are used are generic and relatively inexpensive," he said.

"The governor has shined a light on the situation. It's time the taxpayers got some equity. Let the people vote whether they want this," Kreegel concluded.

Without specifically referencing mosquito boards, Clete Saunier, president of the Florida Association of Special Districts, predicted that the governor's investigation "will affirm that special districts are fiscally responsible, community-focused local government entities.

“Central to the discussions should be that special districts are created upon public demand, and help Floridians when local or state governments were either unable or unwilling to provide crucial services or infrastructure to a community," Saunier said in a statement.

Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.

Gov. Scott Issues Executive Order to "Examine" all 1600 Florida Special Districts

2012-01-16T16:32:06-05:00

YAHOO!!!!

We found today that Florida Gov. Scott has issued an Executive Order 12-10 "Review of Special Districts" which assigns his Office of Policy & Budget (OPB) to perform an “examination” of ALL 1600 Florida special districts. The Executive Order is HERE. FiscalRangers.com will publish another article later this week on just this Executive Order after I interview some people. HERE is the press release on this OPB assignment.

The press release and the EO are similar to the earlier one establishing a Commission to Review Hospital Districts. Last year I sent that commission numerous emails and articles about oversight weaknesses in not only Hospital Districts but other Florida Districts. They just recently issued their final report of recommendations, including a number I agree with.

As our readers know, FiscalRangers.com has published numerous articles on weaknesses and problems in the various types of special districts, including CRA’s,

But, this is not a Commission to STUDY the issue, but a task order to the OPB to start a program to “Examine” ALL 1600 districts in Florida for performance, etc. The objectives are in the EO and shortened versions are in the press release. These are not the routine CPA type financial audits performed for most district financial statements, but much broader scope reviews to determine efficiency, justification, etc.

This policy means that in Lake County, there will be performance and oversight reviews of our special districts including the two Hospital Districts, the water districts (Lake County as well as the St. John’s River Water Management District), CRAs (Community Redevelopment Associations) and other districts.

I tried calling the OPB today before realizing all government offices are closed because it is the MLK holiday. I will post another longer article on the blog by Wednesday or Thursday, and have more details, because to review 1600 agencies, they will stretch it out over several years and may be constrained by budget and staffing limits.

Finally, the State of Florida is taking oversight seriously over special districts. And, FiscalRangers intends to be supplying information and ideas to the team conducting the examinations. I am going to encourage that public hearings be part of the process for the examiners to receive feedback from the public on the justification and operations of the districts. I expect many Districts to whine and complain, and they should get first priority.

Vance Jochim

Lake County Fiscal Rangers

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Controversial Lake County Water Level Settings for Lakes to Remain Stable for Now.

2012-01-15T16:58:07-05:00

Jan. 15th, 2012 - Tavares, FL

By Vance Jochim, FiscalRangers.com

The water levels in Lake County Lakes Dora, Beauclaire, Harris, Eustis & Griffin should now cease dropping due to a new Florida State water district policy demanded by many Lake County residents, boaters and FiscalRangers.com readers at recent public hearings.

The St. Johns River Water Management District Board ( "St. Johns District" ) is a Florida STATE agency which controls lake and river waters in about 15 Florida Counties including Lake County. They have the legal authority to control and set water flow between lakes. They held a Board meeting at their headquarters in Palatka, FL on January 10th and approved a revision of a previous controversial staff policy to shutoff water flows from the headwaters source of Lake Apopka to Lake Dora, Eustis, Harris & Griffin. That policy had been implemented in early December, and lake water levels in Lake County had dropped 3-6 inches in four weeks due to the policy.

This was after a public hearing on January 5th in Howey-in-the-Hills was attended by 300-500 citizens supporting different alternatives to the shutoff policy.

You can read a lot of earlier background details HERE in our previous blog posting with links to articles in the local papers and TV station reports on Orlando Channel 9 and the Orlando Fox TV station. http://webworks.typepad.com/lakecountyfiscalrangers/2011/12/update-lake-dora-water-flow-from-lake-apopka-shut-off-by-st-johns-river-water-management-district-.html

Background:

The St. Johns District staff implemented a new "pilot" project for the second year that shutoff water flow from Lake Apopka to the Lake County lakes in early December. It would have been in effect until April 14th. As part of that policy, they also shut off water flow from Lake Eustis to Lake Griffin for the second year. Lake Griffin water flows were thus much lower last year, and residents on that Lake attended a St. John's District meeting in early December in Apopka and lobbied for water flow to be opened up from Lake Eustis to Lake Griffin. The result was that water levels in the "superpond" of Lake Dora, Harris & Eustis started dropping about one inch per week.

On January 5th, after notices from this blog as well as local papers and emails sent to two large, local boating clubs, 300-500 people showed up and supported a new option that opened up water flow from Lake Apopka into the Superpond, and also expanded water flow from the Superpond to Lake Griffin. That new alternative was then discussed at the Jan. 10th St. Johns District Board meeting in Palatka and they approved the new option. The result should be stable water levels in the Superpond and Lake Griffin, but Lake Apopka will drop 2-3 inches.

However, the new policy as defined by the staff, would only be implemented until Lake Griffin water levels are "restored", thus they could then shutoff water flow again from Lake Apopka.

My Observations:

I was at the January 5th and the January 10th meetings.

I was there today with two others from the Sunnyland Antique Boat Society. We gave public input, as well as Robert from the BCC ED department and the executive director of the Lake County Water Authority.

Here is a link to their press release on our Lake Water level issue. It described the new policy approved by the Board to allow 23 cfs (cubic feet per second) of water flow from Lake Apopka into Lake Dora (much better than the prior ZERO water flow policy), and also 23 cfs from Lake Eustis into Lake Griffin.

http://webapub.sjrwmd.com/agws10/newsrelease/ViewNews.aspx?nrd=nr12-003

Notice they give staff direction to adjust water levels BACK to zero flow once Lake Griffin levels are “restored”

The Board approved the change of water flows and “The Board also directed District staff to make further adjustments as needed based on water quality and to shift to 0 discharges at all three structures once the benefits of the 23/23/0 cfs discharges and rainfall had restored the level of Lake Griffin.”

They never discussed or acknowledged that they would take economic impacts into their analysis. Thus the above means once Lake Griffin levels are “restored” they will shutoff water flow again.

At no time, either at the Jan. 5th or 10th meetings, did staff indicate they would consider economic impacts as a factor in their water level decisions. They even said at the Jan. 5th meeting that they did not develop any kind of economic impact study.

They did not discuss the affect of springs in Lake Apopka as a source of added water, nor did they make any commitment to maintaining a specific minimum water level in the Lake Dora/Harris Chain of lakes.

They did not discuss the volume of outflow of water from the locks which are opened every half hour.

Additionally, it appears to me that the Lake water levels they cite in their graphs are OFF from those we see in real life on local lakes. The Chief of Staff said he would follow up on the apparent large discrepancy. For instance, why can Channel 9 show reporter Berndt Petersen standing on the dry lake bed between docks on Lake Griffin and say the lake level is down THREE FEET while staff is saying that lake is only a few inches down? Or, how can they say that Lake Dora is only down about 1 inch in the last month when two of us from the Sunnyland chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society each see a drop of 4-6” on Lake Dora. I will personally follow up on that issue.

Here is a Fox Orlando TV report by Tracy Jacim after the Jan. 5th meeting.

Additionally, it is clear that the spokespeople from the Lake County Water Authority ( LCWA - not the same as the St. Johns District - they have no authority for setting water levels, but they can lobby for policies) appear to favor ZERO water flow into the Superpond and agree with the staff’s early decision. They are not interested in economic impacts except favoring highly fluctuating water levels favoring the fishing environment which contradicts the desire of boaters and waterfront owners to have water levels above the minimum water level standards at all times. Thus it is my opinion we cannot look to the Lake County Water Authority Board for leadership on the water level issue.

The Dora Canal connects Lake Dora and Lake Eustis and is an important boating channel which is hard for boaters to use if water levels are down. The St. Johns staff also said they would rely on the Lake County Water Authority to clear the Dora Canal to reduce concerns about low clearance through the canal. The LCWA Exec. Director said at the Jan. 10th meeting that they had cleared the Dora Canal in the past – but that is not completely the experience of our boating members in the Sunnyland chapter. The props on many of our inboard engined boats can get easily damaged by submerged logs in the Dora canal. They need more clearance than most current outboard fishing or other boats and the shaft and structure holding the propellers are easily damaged by submerged logs and stumps. I have been told that the Sunnyland Antique Boat Society will monitor actions to improve the navigability of the Dora Canal.

There were no commitments to timeframes, unlike business which would always require a specific time for completion.

It really does not appear anyone has previously questioned the St. Johns staff or board on the validity for their minimum and maximum water levels, the “regulated” levels, or the lack of economic impact analysis in their decision making. If permits related to waterfront projects require environmental impact studies, why aren’t their decisions subject to economic impact studies????

Conclusion:

For now, the Lake County lake water levels may remain stable due to the impact of having 300-500 citizens appear at the Jan. 5th meeting.

However, the St. Johns District staff still seems to focus on Lake Apopka water quality much more than the economic impacts of lowering water in the Superpond and Lake Griffin.

But, now this blog and other Lake County boating groups will be monitoring their actions much more closely.

Additionally, thanks to support from Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione, the St. Johns Board was presented with a Lake County Board resolution on the matter. She also said they would look into having the Lake County Economic Development Dept. create an economic impact analysis related to Superpond Lake issues. Such an analysis is needed, since the St. Johns staff has not expressed an interest in developing one.

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers.com

Can Voter Fraud Take Place in Lake County? Examples from New Hampshire!

2012-01-12T16:31:18-05:00

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 - Tavares, FL - Can voter fraud occur in Florida or here in Lake County?

We don't have that answer YET, but the local "True The vote" coordinator for the North Lake County Tea Party sent us this article about how easy it is in New Hampshire. An undercover video team looked up a list of recently deceased but registered people and found they could get their voting ballots and NO ID was required in New Hampshire to verify their identity.

Be sure to watch the video on the following link.

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=6e056f38408ce5b5a62ccc857&id=df12af60d0&e=add9c1f9f7

Or, here is the video right on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/embed/9-uVhhIlPk0

xxxxxxxx

New Hampshire Shows How Easy Vote Fraud Can Be.
Is South Carolina Next?

True the Vote strongly supports enacting voter ID laws in order to prevent vote fraud. If anyone ever questions the need for such measures, consider what just happened in New Hampshire. A new investigative video by Project Veritas has shown just how easy it is to cast an illegal ballot in The Granite State, a state that requires no identification to vote.

Project Veritas, headed by filmographer James O'Keefe, sent its cameras to several primary polling places in New Hampshire armed with a list of deceased voters and asked primary poll workers for ballots using the names and addresses of those names on that list. Much to their surprise they were never once required to present an ID to prove who they were, nor were they even asked if they were, indeed, the person they claimed to be.

In fact, the poll workers weren’t worried at all if these videographers were who they said they were. When the Project Veritas team members asked if they needed to present ID to prove who they were, the poll workers told them it wasn't necessary, that they could just go ahead and vote using the false names.

"While our investigators cast no votes and returned the ballots," the PV team members report, "there was nothing stopping our team, or anyone else, from illegally influencing the outcome of a presidential primary."

Elsewhere, in South Carolina, the Department of Motor Vehicles is reporting that it has proof that dead voters in that state are somehow still voting. The DMV reported that at least 900 deceased voters had voted in recent elections.

State officials vowed to investigate, but if South Carolinians can’t trust the veracity of past election results how can they be sure of a true result in the upcoming primary?

These shocking examples in NH and SC are precisely why True The Vote is training and supporting citizens to get involved in their election processes. All it takes is a small, organized force -- especially in those local elections that often see low voter turn out -- and an election can be illicitly rigged toward a particular result by people misrepresenting who they are at the polls.

Make no mistake -- if citizens don't demand that the integrity of our elections be upheld, we will continue to have episodes like what we just saw in New Hampshire. It's got to stop. Get involved. True the Vote.

Rick Riker on the DROP of Lake County School District High Schools Rank to a "C"

2012-01-12T14:10:51-05:00

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012

From Guest Writer Rick Riker, who attends most of the Board meetings and workshops of the Lake County School District

On January 4th 2012 the Florida Department of Education unveiled their 2010-2011 High School grades. The grades are based 50% on FCAT and 50% on other components, ie. Graduation Rates and College Readiness. The letter grades the schools receive are much like the grades we all received in school, a C = Adequate or Average and an A or B = Better than average, of course we all know what D & F represent.

(Editor's Note: Here are the new and prior High School Ratings taken from the official press release from the Lake County School District (link is at bottom of this article):)

"The 2010-2011 grades for each high school are (and grades for the previous four school years):

· East Ridge High School “B”

(2009-10: “C”; 2008-09: “C”; 2007-08: “B”; 2006-07: “D”)

· Eustis High School “B”

(2009-10: “B”; 2008-09: “D”; 2007-08: “C”; 2006-07: “D”)

· Leesburg High School “C”

(2009-10: “C”; 2008-09: “D”; 2007-08: “D”; 2006-07: “D”)

· Mount Dora High School “D”

(2009-10: “B”; 2008-09: “C”; 2007-08: “B”; 2006-07: “C”)

· South Lake High School “B”

(2009-10: “C”; 2008-09: “D”; 2007-08: “D”; 2006-07: “D”)

· Tavares High School “B”

(2009-10: “A”; 2008-09: “B”; 2007-08: “B”; 2006-07: “B”)

· Umatilla High School “C”
(2009-10: “B”; 2008-09: “D”; 2007-08: “B”; 2006-07: “C”)

As a county, Lake received an overall grade of “C”. How did this grade stack up against the other 67 public school districts in Florida? State wide 21% of the schools scored C and below, Lake's score was 43% C and below or 22% worse than the state average. C or Average is not what anyone wants to achieve or what we want from our schools. How did the Lake schools do when compared state wide to above average scores, A & B? Of the 67 public school districts we find that 50 of those school districts have A & B percentages higher than Lake leaving only 16 doing worse in the above average category.

The County School Officials have put a positive spin on the grade with statements like, “Overall we're encouraged by the grades”, this is to be expected and having a positive attitude is encouraging, lets hope this attitude doesn't take the place of conceding the fact that the statistics indicate that the Lake County School District has a lot of work to do to achieve an acceptable grade which taxpayers are paying them to achieve.

At the first Lake County School District Board workshop of the new year many topics were covered but the meeting ended with one Board member passing out another pro uniform paper supporting the unfounded concept that uniforms would have a major positive impact on students deportment and learning. Last year this topic took up a great deal of time, time the school board could have been using to deal with legitimate reasons for and ways to raise our schools grades. This issue was soundly defeated by both the parents and the school board and would only be an unnecessary distraction from the real issues.

(Scroll down to see links to related news articles. - Ed )

Rick Riker

Editor's Note: It will be interesting to see what the existing Board members do about these ranking drops, and how their campaign opponents use this information against them. My opinion is that there are some good schools and good teachers in Lake County, but residents just have to research and find them. We will see if the Superintendant takes any action about changing leadership within the School leadership system. There are some great principals, but maybe some others have been retained too long and do not have the skills to keep up with the ever changing and complex curriculum and testing requirements that require more analytical minds. The School administrators also might need to find a more assertive way to cope with union restrictions and still edge out lower performing teachers who also cannot keep up with the more complex metrics used to measure school scores. Teaching isn't easy anymore, and that is part of the problem as higher level teaching and administrative skills are needed.

If I were on the Board, I would be asking to see a list of adminstrators and teachers in the lower ranked schools and grill the Superintendent on how they compare to the successful ones, what has been done, and specify that the lowest 10% be re-assigned, demoted or let go. I know the staff has been doing some benchmarking and tracking what teacher actions result in better grades. My recommendation to let low performers go is harsh, yes, but in this changing world, the old skills might not be working and the District needs to rotate staff until they find people at ALL levels with the proper skills to cope with the newer requirements. There are always excuses for poor performance, but you want people who FIND A WAY to work within new requirements and perform, even if that means coaching parents also. Stop hiring extra coaches and consultants, and find staff and teachers who can self learn and do what is needed on their own. Sales departments do that all the time. They provide basic skills and then let them demonstrate their sales ability. They then let the lower 10% go every year (or sooner) because the metrics for the corporation will improve vs holding on to poor salespeople HOPING they might improve. The same disciplined approach is needed for the teaching profession to ensure disciplined instructors are hired to improve School ratings vs those who constantly fight what is needed for improvement.

The question is, are the schools run to meet teacher and union interests to protect the lowest common denominator or seniority levels, or to hire people who provide higher performance methods of teaching to improve rankings regardless of seniority or education levels.

One solution is perhaps creating competition by staffing one school just with teachers who worked in industry first, then went through Lake Sumter Community College's "Education Preparation Institute" to become teachers after having worked in the "real world". It would be interesting to see if they have better coping, discipline and teaching skills to meet the current, complex teaching environment.

Vance Jochim

References & Articles Researched and Added by FiscalRangers.com :

Orlando Sentinel Jan. 4th Article on Most Recent FCAT Scores for High Schools

"Lake and Volusia county schools didn't shine as much. Lake had one D, Mount Dora High — and Volusia County had two, Atlantic and Pine Ridge high schools, and no A-rated campuses."

Here is the Press Release from Lake County Schools Explaining the above drop

“Overall, we’re encouraged with the grades,” said Dr. Susan Moxley, Superintendent of Lake County Schools. “We’re exhibiting an overall trend of academic improvement. These results validate the strategies we have in place, in addition to the hard work of our teachers and principals, to adapt to the changing landscape of more rigorous standards and assessments. We’ll continue to evaluate and analyze these grades so we can build strategies toward improvement.”

Jan. 4th Press Release from Florida Dept of Education on new FCAT Ratings for High Schools

Jan. 4th Press Packet from FLDOE with Graphs and shows worksheet with line for each County, including Lake County's 7 High schools

Florida Education Ranking drops from 5th (B-) to 11th Place (C+) in National Education ratings

FLDOE Press Release Explaining their version of the above Ranking

Florida Gov. Scott Wants $1-billion more for 2012/2013 School Budgets

Orlando Sentinel Database of latest 2011 Florida School FCAT scores

Final Report for Florida State Commission to Review Hospital Districts

2012-01-03T16:34:46-05:00

Tallahassee, FL - Jan. 3, 2012 - In 2011, Gov. Rick Scott established a commission to review taxpayer funded Hospital Districts.

After many meetings and interim reports, the final report was issued today, as described in the notice below from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

The notice mentions that a version with links to pages will be distributed later this week, and when I receive it, I will post it on this page.

Later this week I will post my comments, since some of the recommendations can affect the North Lake County Hospital District.

============================================================

The final report of the Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts is now available on the Commission website. The first link below goes to the main webpage for the Commission, and the second link goes directly to the report.

Click on the main page at the link “Final Report”: http://ahca.myflorida.com/mchq/FCTFH/fctfh.shtml .

Jump straight to the report at this link: http://ahca.myflorida.com/mchq/FCTFH/pdf/122911Meeting/FinalReportRF2.pdf

This week we are preparing an edition of the report that has embedded web links in it. It should be available by the end of the week.

Jeff Gregg, Executive Director

Florida Commission on Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts

Florida Agency for Health Care Administration

2727 Mahan Drive, MS 28A

Tallahassee, FL 32308

(850) 412-4402

(850) 413-7955 (fax)

Brief Overview of North Lake County Hospital District Reform Efforts

2012-01-03T09:35:44-05:00

Jan 1, 2012 - Tavares, FL - Here is a brief "year end" summary from the Orlando Sentinel about Rep. Larry Metz's reform bill regarding the North Lake County Hospital District.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-hospital-district-20120101,0,2244430.story

Updated Jan 15th: Lake Dora water flow from Lake Apopka shut off by CAT People at St. Johns River Water Management District

2011-12-27T13:58:42-05:00

Updated Jan. 15, 2012 to include Fox Orlando interview link to their website.

Updated Jan 9, 2012 after the meeting: The Lake County public hearing of the St. Johns River Water Management District meeting was held Jan. 5th to discuss water level management practices affecting Lake County lakes. Our update with conclusions and our recommendations are in section PS8 at the bottom of this document. (Several updates added to section PS8 with the latest on Jan 9th). Links to local media articles on this meeting also added to section PS8 thru 1/9. The ST. John's Board is having a Baord meeting in Palatka on Jan. 10th to decide their actions, and we will post a NEW article.

Tavares, FL - Dec. 27, 2011 (Updated 4pm, Jan. 4th) - Water levels in Lake Dora & downstream lakes are dropping due to actions to completely shutoff water flow to them from Lake Apopka. Alien CAT People working at the St. Johns River Water Management District started shutting off water on Dec. 8th from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and all Lake Countians should get organized. (True, except for the CAT reference (:-)) )

A public hearing for Lake Countians has been scheduled for Jan. 5th at 5pm in the Mission Inn in Howie-in-The-Hills and details are below in the PS1 section. We encourage all readers concerned about dropping water levels in Harris Chain lakes to attend the meeting. You will see a presentation from the staff of the St. John's River Water Management District about why they have turned off all water flow from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and other Lake County lakes. Our observations are that water has dropped 5 inches in four weeks, and is dropping about 1 inch per week. You can also give public input on your concerns about lower lake water levels - not being able to get boats out of docks, dropping property values, and not being able to get a boat through the Dora Canal. Please be there!!

We expect numerous attendees from Lake Griffin, plus members of the Sunnyland Antique & Classic Boat Society plus members of the Triangle Boat Club.

This is an update on the issue of water flow being shutoff as pf December 8th, 2011 from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and downstream lakes by the St. Johns District staff , when hardly any of them or members of their board live in Lake County. There also was no previous public hearing for Lake Countians that we know of. Lake Griffin has suffered dramatic drops in water levels, and Lake Dora is down by about 5-6 inches in the last 4-weeks since the water shutoff was implemented (my estimate based upon the canal I live on). After the Lake Apopka Restoration Summit on December 14, the staff agreed to increase the outflow of water into Lake Griffin but NOT allow water to flow INTO the Harris Chain from Apopka, resulting in a constantly dropping water level.

Originally, we thought it was Lake Apopka area environmentalists doing this to Lake County, but a FiscalRangers investigation found that the St. Johns Water District staff are really CAT PEOPLE aliens who hate water. Thus they have apparently initiated a plan to shutoff all water flow to Lake County lakes so they don't have so many lakes. (OK, for those in Apopka, the Wekiva area or in the Ocala forest, that reference to Alien CAT People is a joke).

We covered the issue initially on THIS post along with news for a recent Lake County Board meeting where the water level issue was discussed on the meeting agenda. About 50 people from Lake Griffin, and about 20 from local boat clubs showed up. Commissioner Leslie Campione spearheaded a discussion and allowed public input. The Lake County Board does NOT have authority over water levels but can use their bully pulpit to engage staff and Board members of the St. Johns River Water Management Distrist. She agreed to contact them, and also write a letter on behalf of the board to request increasing water flow to Lake Dora and downstream lakes, including Lake Griffin, which is very low. She also announced the public hearing below.

There will be a public hearing organized by the St. Johns Water District staff in Howie-in-the-Hills on Jan. 5th at 5pm at the Mission Inn to get "public input" on the water cutoff, and details are in the PS1 section below.

You can verify Lake County water levels, discharge rates and rainfall levels for each Lake HERE at the St. Johns webpage that tracks it. Click on the links for the "Upper Ocklawaha River Basin. The "Burrell Spillway" rates are the flow of water OUT of Lake Eustis to Lake Griffin. Please bring your "NO CAT PEOPLE" poster to halt this dastardly feline plot by the ST. Johns Water District to lower Lake County lake water levels. However, I live on a canal off Lake Dora and it seems to me that water levels have dropped about 5 inches, more than the charts show. However, that could be that the "regulated" water levels vary by month of the year, while I am looking at an expected average water level marker.

HERE is the website page for the recent Lake Apopka Summit which was mostly to discuss Lake Apopka restoration efforts, but where the issue of dropping water levels was discussed. St. Johns staff appeared disguised as real people, but we now know they are water hating Alien CAT People ((:-)). Now they have all the presentations from the earlier Lake Apopka Summit on the webpage, so you can download them from HERE.

Update Jan. 4: Lake County Commissioner told me she visited the St. Johns offices today and also presented Lake County concerns to them. She will be at the Jan. 5th meeting.

Quick - forward this email to other Lake County boat owners, Griffin Lake residents, waterfront owners and other residents and businesses concerned about dropping Lake water levels in Lake County. Encourage them to attend the Jan. 5th Public Hearing. Do this before the Orlando Sentinel's columnist discovers our research regarding CAT People aliens running the St. Johns Water District and writes a story on it.

Bookmark THIS page for updates on the upcoming meeting and results which will be posted here in the sections below.

FiscalRangers.com Opinion (read the PS sections below for more background)

- The water level shutoff was done without any public hearings in Lake County that we know of.

- No Lake County agency has authority over water levels, not even the County Board or Lake County Water Authority. The effect is that the St. Johns District, headquartered in Palatka, FL follows the UN Agenda 21 tactic of creating "regional" groups that can't be directly sanctioned by local voters and they are out of our voter control, but yet they control our water levels. There is one vacancy on the Board for an area including western Lake County, but it may take 2 months yet for Gov. Scott to make the appointment, and not necessarily a Lake County citizen.

- Lake Griffin residents visited the recent Apopka Restoration Summit and lobbied to get a bigger water flow, which was APPROVED, thus increasing water flow OUT of Lake Dora, Harris & Eustis, while still not allowing any inflow of water, thus levels will drop faster.

- The Federal Corps of Engineers or the St. John's staff (not clear on this) establishes standard water flow rates, but the St. Johns staff shutoff ignores those standards, and an explanation how they could ignore the water flow standards and implement the shutoff is needed.

- The shutoff also seems motivated by a Lake Apopka support group and possibly environmentalists in the Water District, without any consideration of the effect on Lake County water levels, property values, economic development effects, etc.

- The St. Johns Staff are really Alien Cat People who don't want Lake County to have any lake water. (snark, snark!)

- The recent Lake Apopka Restoration Summit (see below) and possibly the upcoming hearing may use the UN Agenda 21 tactic of developing "consensus" using a modified "Delphi" decision making technique actually designed to only present and obtain feedback leading to a staff pre-determined result. Delays in public notices can be used to reduce opponents knowledge of the meeting, while favored groups will receive advance notice. (as of Dec. 29, the St Johns District still has not issued a promised press release or agenda on the Jan 5 meeting). No actual VOTE of attendees will be taken on an issue, but the organizers will later announce a "consensus" was reached to move forward on the pre-determined objective. Watch for that "consensus building technique" in any public meeting you attend. Watch for experts that only support one favored approach, and not alternatives. Watch for no formal assembly of issues and recommendations before the group, and a vote. Intead, later, only favored viewpoints will be documented and opposition information will be excluded. This technique, in my opinion, was used to develop some land planning components in the Comp Plan for Lake County. The issue of Agenda 21 or "Visioning" meetings to announce "public consensus" on pre-determined outcomes has been identified in numerous articles posted regarding the Obama administration and socialist tactics. Watch for those tactics.

- It is possible some actions are needed to improve water quality and sound water flow management can be one of those tactics. But Lake Countians need that information clearly presented so they can decide, not environmentalists or District staff. That is the difference between freedom of choice and government defined outcomes.

Conclusion:

Lake Countians need to attend the meeting, provide public input, then afterwards send their opinions to the St. Johns River Water Management District Board, local Lake County Commissioners, and other agencies. AFTER the meeting, we will update the PS8 and PS9 sections below with info on the meeting results and who to send your recommendations to.

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers AT comcast DOT com

Below are additional background facts and details on the Jan. 5th meeting:

Several articles have also been published in the Daily Commercial and Orlando Sentinel Lake section.

PS1: Here is an update on the public hearing next week on January 5th. I just received this from the Executive office, and apparently the press release will go out soon, so put this meeting on your schedule:

Information on the January 5 meeting: (from SJRWMD Sr. Assistant Marji Hightower)

SJRWMD Projects and Land Business Meeting:

Mission Inn Conference Center

10400 County Road 48

Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida 34737

5:00 PM to 7:30 pm

UPDATED 4pm, Dec. 29, the official St. Johns District press release about the Jan 5th meeting was finally issued after 4pm HERE. They also updated and posted a "Get the Facts" page HERE on "Discharges Changed on Harris Chain of Lakes". Fiscal Rangers also confirmed the meeting IS scheduled in a room that will hold 200 people at the Mission Inn, so plan to be there if you are concerned about water levels. (updated Dec. 29)

When any official press release about the meeting is posted, you should find it HERE.

There is NO separate agenda for the Jan. 5th meeting. Public input will be limited to 3 minutes per person, and spokeman for organizations can have up to 5 minutes.

PS2: Links to SJRWMD website:

Main website: http://floridaswater.com/

http://floridaswater.com/governingboard/representationmap.html - shows Board areas

http://floridaswater.com/governingboard/boardmembers.html - shows Board members and bios - their pictures are disguised as "normal people" and not their REAL Alien CAT People images (:-)).

For additional information about Lake Apopka, contact David Walker, basin program manager for the St. Johns Water District, at (386) 329-4833 or dwalker@sjrwmd.com .

PS3: Update Dec. 29 on vacant St. Johns District Board position - Currently there is a vacancy on the Board of the St. John's water district, and it is for the "area" that includes western Lake County, including Lake Dora, Harris & Eustis. Lake County needs a representative on that Board. Nominations have already been submitted by local Lake County organizations. I talked to Gov. Scott's Appointment office today, Dec. 29, and was told some applicants have already been excluded and others are "in the pipeline", including one favored by many Lake County residents. The limiting factor is getting time with Gov. Scott to discuss the applicants and for him to talk to them. They estimated a decision will be made in January or February, but cannot be more specific. (Added Dec. 29)

PS4: Minimum Input on the Water Cutoff was Provided by Lake Countians - We were told by a St. Johns representative that they had told Board members of the Lake County Water Authority as well as the Lake Harris Chain of Lakes Restoration Committee about the water cutoff, and not much resistance was encountered. It seems that the St. John's staff thought that just making presentations at those two groups was adequate effort to get input from Lake Countians. It is not, in our opinion.

You can read the minutes of the Oct. 19th, 2011 meeting HERE of the Lake County Water Authority (scroll down to page 4 and see section on "Temporary Changes in Management of Harris Chain of Lakes Levels"). The Board was told of the Lake County water level changes, but notice that there were staff recommendations to the Board, but the Executive Director recommendation was: "No action required. For information only" which means they didn't act on the recommendations or publicize the issue. I don't know if the issue received much publicity until the Lake Apopka Summit earlier this month when many vocal residents of Lake Griffin gave public input and word spread on the water shutoff. (added Dec. 29)

PS5: Standard "Natural" Water Flow rates from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and other "downstream" lakes are defined by the Federal Corps of Engineers (need to clarify this - others say the St. Johns staff sets minimum & maximum levels) as the "regulated" levels, but the St. Johns staff apparenlty ignored or waived those standards in a "pilot study" by shutting off ALL water flow - so, their right to do so is questionable and needs explanation.

PS6: Was the Water Shutoff Due to Excess Influence of Lake Apopka Environmental Zealots or Real Estate Developers? Evidence exists that a Lake Apopka support group has pushed to increase the Lake Apopka levels to improve THEIR wetlands areas without considation for the downstream lake levels.

PS7: St. Johns webpage on the recent Lake Apopka Restoration Summit - Here is my comment I posted on that page today, Dec. 29, which may or may not be approved by them. If you go to this page above, then click the link to see the main Lake Apopka page, you can see attachments of presentations made at the meeting:

"This meeting was about the restoration of the lake (Apopka), but kicked off a bigger discussion about the right of the St. Johns staff to arbitrarily shut off natural water flow defined by the Corps of Engineers from Lake Apopka to Lake County, Lake Dora and other downstream lakes depending on that water flow. This summary here ignores the 50 or so people from Lake Griffin that protested the water shutdown. I cannot help notice that this meeting was held following the modified "Delphi Technique" used by environmentalists and UN Agenda 21 supporters to obtain local "consensus" by presenting pre-determined facts, organize and hear feedback, then ignore any negative questions, NOT hold any type of formal vote, and then announce a consensus was reached.

A formal vote is needed by all stakeholders, and "consensus" should be a referendum of all stakeholders, not a fixed meeting process to reach a staff determined goal. Lake Countians are tired of the St Johns staff and board arbitrarily making decisions without formal votes or representation by Lake County on your Board.

As of today, Dec. 29, the District still has not published the press release or agenda for the January 5th public hearing at the Mission Inn at 5pm. Does that mean only favored attendees will receive notice of the meeting to get another "consensus"?" ( Update: Magically, I received the press release and a VERY brief agenda statement after they got this comment and a link to this blog posting - vj)

Vance Jochim - FiscalRangers.com

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PS8: This section PS8 added Jan. 6th, AFTER the public hearing:

PS8: Post Meeting Synopsis - Jan 6, 2012 - (by Vance Jochim, FiscalRangers.com ) The public meeting was held last night attended by about 300 members of the public. It was standing room only.

The staff of the St. Johns River Water Management District gave a Powerpoint presentation on the current water level situation related to Lake Apopka, Dora, Eustis Harris (also known as the Superpond) & Lakie Griffin, current practices, reasons why they shutoff all water flow from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and downstream lakes, and then presented five staff selected alternatives for discussion. Five members of the St. Johns Board plus their Executive Director and several staff were present also. They allowed all who wanted to provide public input for 3 minutes do so, and about 50 speakers gave public input (inlcuding myself), including some elected officials, city managers, representatives of the Sunnyland Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society, two other local boat owner groups, etc. All were concerned about lower water levels in all the lakes and questioned why no water was being transferred from the source lake, Lake Apopka, to the other lakes.

The St Johns staff will post their Powerpoint soon, and you should be able to find it on this webpage: http://www.sjrwmd.com/lakeapopka/ .

HERE is a link to the Channel 9 TV segment on the water level issue effect on Lake Griffin, but not the meeting.

Here is an overview article in the Orlando Sentinel BEFORE the meeting.

Here is the Daily Commercial Article on the meeting - added Jan 8, 2012

Here is the Orlando Sentinel article about the Jan 5th meeting - published Jan. 9, 2012.

HERE is the link to the Fox Orlando 35 TV report by Tracy Jacim AFTER the Jan. 5th meeting with an interview of Riley Wardrip of the Sunnyland Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society. (added Jan. 15, 2012)

My observation of the staff presentation & public input is:

- Their focus on retaining all water in Lake Apopka is primarily a commitment to restoring Lake Apopka water "quality" by increasing water levels in Apopka to REDUCE the ratio of phosphorus in the water.

- The staff publicly stated, when asked, that that there was NO ECONOMIC ANALYSIS prepared to identify the economic problems downstream caused by the elimination of water flow to the Superpond. Thus their methods and priorities focus only on water quality and not economic effects.

- They base their standards of minimum and maximum water levels on OLD Corps of Engineers Data, and then claim they have power to ignore them to shutoff the water. As one speaker asked, "that is illegal" to alter water flow from the standards and the staff said they notified the Corps of Engineers, but did not have to seek their approval. This apparently is an unresolved issue of authority. And, are the water level standards defined to meet environmentalist expectations vs more reasonable expectations?

- During the "rainy season" of the year, the St. Johns staff will release more water and drop water levels in case heavy rains or hurricanes drop "too much" water in the lakes. However, speakers say that there has never been a situation where heavy rains or hurricanes caused water to overflow normal seawall levels. Several speakers questioned the need to release water based upon a varying "regulated" level during the rainy months. Why not HOLD the water to offset draugh and low rain times of the year, and the staff didn't really answer.

- People asked why the St Johns District or other organization have the authority and budget to clean all the logs out of the Dora Canal so boats can get through in low water seasons. I have been told there is some Federal environmental rule preventing dredging or alterations, but no one had an answer.

- Water levels could be retained at a higher level if more "water storage" facilities were created, such as the North Shore retention area of Lake Apopka, or a new project on Lake Harris. The staff talked about these, but didn't include the possible storage data in their forecasts. It seems to me and several speakers that adding water storage areas would help offset low water conditions in the dry months of the year. That was not part of the staff alternatives.

- Staff alternatives - in the earlier blog details above, I discussed the risk of staff using the Delphi technique favored by environmentalists to gain "consensus" but only for their own pre-selected actions. The cynic in me says this happened at this meeting. The staff gave a presentation showing their justifications and then listed five alternatives, all based upon only changing water flows. They listened to public input, but TOOK NO VOTE OF THOSE PEOPLE PRESENT. They also did not add or alter their alternatives to include the public's proposals to include better water storage methods or give a larger ranking to economic factors vs just environmental considerations.

- The Board did not make any decision - they will tour the lakes today, Jan. 6th, (who actually is giving the tour and bending their ear?) and then discuss the public feedback at the next Board meeting in Palatka next Tuesday. I will post another blog article when the results of that meeting are known.

RESOURCES:

Here is the Powerpoint shown at the meeting by the St. Johns District staff.

Download SJRWMD

Here is a shorter Powerpoint shown by Charles Clark, board member of the Lake County water Authority. Download Charles Clark - Harris Chain Parity

FiscalRangers.com Conclusions & Recommendations:

- The St. Johns Board clearly knows more about Lake County concerns after yesterday's meeting with 300 showing up, in a standing room only room. They also should realize that economic impact concerns should have as much or more ranking as water quality issues when establishing water level management policies affecting Lake County lakes.

- The Board should implement option 4, which allows water to drain from Lake Apopka into Lake Dora, and from the Superpond into Lake Griffin. (Lake Griffin is really low). However, who knows if the staff recommended flow rates are appropriate? However, rather than just this one action, they need to ALSO need to take immediate action and establish recommended policies described below.

- The Board needs to give a much higher consideration to economic issues vs just environmentalist concerns when defining water flow policies for Lake County. They need an objective, professional economic analysis of the negative economic impacts on the Superpond and downstream Lake Griffin when water levels are low. That information should be given a 50% weighting when approving water level management actions.

- The Board needs to investigate all the "water level "regulated" and minimum and maximum water level standards" cited by staff which may be really old, and determine if changes are needed. They clearly need to examine whether a "regulated" level standard used to DRAIN water from the lakes in mid-year is really justified, when water RETENTION helps offset seasonal water level fluctuations. This should be part of their announced Board action. Why allow higher outflow during the rainy season when the water could be retained to offset dry periods?

-The Board needs to factor in all current and future water storage methods that would be used to offset the fluctuations in water levels between rainy and dry seasons. Improving water storage methods should have as much priority as water quality efforts. Doing so could result in "managed" acceptable water levels year around for all the lakes.

- The St Johns staff should take a leadership action in finding a way and funding clearing out the Dora canal of old logs and brush to reduce damage to boats trying to get through the canal in low water level times.

- Citizens in Lake County need to keep monitoring and questioning the St. Johns Board and staff about their practices. I recommend a public hearing for Lake County citizens every six months to ensure the District water management practices have visibility and the District keeps Lake County concerns and priorities in mind.

- Lake County leaders in the County Government, the Lake County Water Authority and the Lake Harris Restoration Council need to form a standing Lake County committee including boat owner groups, waterfront owner groups, water dependent business representatives, etc to monitor actions of the St. Johns River Water Management District to ensure we have a representative on the St. Johns Board, They need to have funding to publicize the events and get public input and become active in lobbying the St. Johns Board for actions that benefit Lake County.

- Lake County deserves a fixed representative spot on the St. Johns Board, and we shouldn't be split into "areas" where the Board representative is from a different County are area not part of the Harris Chain of Lakes. The St. Johns Board should be asked to redraw their Board member areas to create one for Lake County and the Harris Chain.

- If the St. Johns District Board continues to be unresponsive to these issues and concerns, Lake County leaders should consider asking Governor Scott to SPLIT the St. Johns District into a separate District just for the Harris Chain of Lakes, and ensure the new District's Board is made up on representatives from each affected lake area, rather than from some remote county or separate waterway.

This blog will now keep monitoring this action. I videotaped the entire meeting, but it is too big for uploading to the internet. Anyone who wants a copy on a DVD disc with five .AVI video files totaling 3.4gb should contact me. Additionally, you can get the official Board audio recording of the meeting by calling the St. Johns District offices in Palatka, asking for Sandy Bertram, District Clerk at (800) 451-7106. She can mail you a CD with the file on it.

Vance Jochim

FiscalRangers@comcast.net

PS9: After the Meeting, Send your Recommendations to THESE people and agencies:

To be filled in after the meeting by Jan. 7th. v