I'm on a roll with stuff from today's paper that might be of interest to you out-of-towners:
Local watch programs to merge into one organization
By KATIE TAMMEN, DAILY SUN
THE VILLAGES — Neighborhood Watch and Village Watch will combine into a single organization this summer, officials said.
The merger, which comes after several months of planning, will provide seamless service to Villages residents, said John Rohan, assistant district manager for the Village Center Community Development District.
“(District Manager) Janet Tutt and I have been looking at the overall operations of all the different organizations in the district and came to realize that we had Village Watch and Neighborhood Watch, and that created some confusion to our customers,” Rohan said. “So we decided to unify and combine those departments into what will be called Community Watch.”
Currently, Neighborhood Watch patrols The Villages north of County Road 466 and Village Watch serves the area south of County Road 466. Though the two programs are essentially the same, they have different telephone numbers and different directors, which can cause confusion.
The new organization will continue to provide programs such as the wellness check and house check, while increasing the visibility of Community Watch employees throughout The Villages, said current Director of Village Watch Ray Peterson.
“It just made sense to combine Neighborhood Watch and Village Watch into Community Watch because our role and function is to provide seamless operations and services to all residents regardless of where they live in this community,” Rohan said.
“It’s a great idea, and I think it will be an asset to the people here,” said current Director of Neighborhood Watch Carl Kemp.
Though Rohan said they are still in the planning stages, they hope to “regionalize” Community Watch employees. For now, this means they plan to assign employees to certain areas, with each employee working a six-hour shift, Peterson said.
“When you’re driving a six-hour shift and you’re driving up and down the same street, you know when something isn’t right, especially at night,” Peterson explained.
The unified organization will be located in the Glenview Country Club, and residents will be able to reach the office, regardless of where they live in The Villages, with a single phone number, Rohan said.
He added that a new logo also would be deployed and would be present on Community Watch vehicles.
“It’s going to, we feel, be a win-win for everyone in the community, including the employees,” said Rohan, who will oversee Community Watch. “It’s a work in progress. We have a lot of things yet to accomplish, but we’ve made some great strides already.”
Katie Tammen is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9264, or
katie.tammen@thevillagesmedia.com.