[John Mayes]

Originally Posted by MartinSE

Thanks for the comment I am a liberal and I vote it will be for you if I get to vote.

I am sorry you are having negative comments from some Dems. I guess there are bad apples on both sides. Don't loose sight that there are good apples on both sides too.

Good post!

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Altavia

As members of this community, we are truely fortunate to have someone the caliber of Don step up to the plate and represent us.

Also unlikely the Governor would select him without agreement from the Developer so nice to see the approval of this highly intelligent, independent voice from that perspective.

Originally Posted by Proveone

I agree. The voters determine who represents them Not the governor, who removed the two previous commissioners on suspicious circumstances. Another autocratic move!

Originally Posted by Lindsyburnsy

Why would he "appoint" this guy, when he doesn't have the authority? Doesn't seem to matter what the rules are because some people feel they have the power to do whatever they want.

Originally Posted by jammaiora

The problem with your response is that the governor created the opening by suspending the two previous commissioners on suspicious circumstances. The only persons who should have anything to do with commissioners appointments should be the citizens who elect them to the office!

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Kind of hard to have a quick election.

I think it was wrong to replace the commissioners before their day in court but what the developer wants he gets.

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Agreed but money talks in politics

Originally Posted by tklloop

Too bad his appointment is already stained by our crooked con-artist governor! I would like to see more qualifications then retired Navy or does really nice drone videos?

Originally Posted by Larchap49

So much for the election process. It couldn't have waited until then. Now he runs as the incumbent? Seems a bit unfair. I'm a Republican and love Desantis but this seems a bit fishy and favorable to TV owners. Am I wrong?

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Any one notice his drone videos have not been here for some time? Wonder why?

Originally Posted by tophcfa

I agree with what you say, but make no mistake about one thing. If Don shared the same views regarding how the impact of new development should be paid for as the commissioner he is replacing, who was duly elected by the residents of Sumter County, he would not have been appointed by team DeSantis.

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Very true but he was not a fan of the new commissioners.

Will be very interesting to see how this plays out once he disagrees with the developer.

You all should read post #77……………..

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

You all should read post #77……………..

?? Post #77 doesn't speak to most of those and acknowledges a few.

[Fredster]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Don

I was not sure about whether I would vote for you but now after reading your post can tell you that you will have my vote for sure.

I felt good about hearing of Don’s appointment,
but like you, after reading his post, he definitely will have my vote.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

You all should read post #77……………..

My view on his candidacy went to very positive after reading post 77. Maybe next time you should read all comments first.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

My view on his candidacy went to very positive after reading post 77. Maybe next time you should read all comments first.

I did.
Maybe you should reread your earlier posts…………….

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki

It’s an INTERIM appointment - would you rather the residents of the county not have a fully functioning government until November, actually, probably 2023, when new officials are sworn in?

Would rather have a situation where in a governor can not kick someone out of office because he they were being charged of a crime. In addition the commisioner(s) are locally elected. Our country does have law about being innocent until proven guilty. He did the same thing to a locally elected election supervisor in Broward County.

Whatever happened to local control?

[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

?? Post #77 doesn't speak to most of those and acknowledges a few.

Most everything was either addressed by me or previously by someone else except for the comment about my opinion on the impact fee.

If I held the same opinion on the impact fee I would not have been selected, not because I would be challenging the developer, but because I would be demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the primary issue with that approach.

Impact fees are specific targeted funds that can only be used on those items they are specifically designated for. They cannot be used to offset other expenses and revenue sources, in other words, they could not legally be applied to the general fund and used to offset the 25% tax increase that occurred. Even if the previous commissioners had raised the impact fee, it could not have been used as they wanted. Amazingly they were all well aware of this fact, perhaps not during the elections, but most certainly after they started these efforts the county staff would have educated them on the fact, and yet they continued on this effort.

Sumter County was not the only county in the state trying to go crazy on impact fees, there were several others. The state legislature stepped in and made the effort intentionally more difficult. More difficult but not impossible. There were 2 avenues it provided, either a limited increase up to 12.5% that required a super majority to approve or perform a reassessment of the impact fees through a formal study, and if justified, then it could be raised without restrictions. Either route is not impossible but requires a deliberate and well thought out process.

Amazingly, after the state took the actions that they did and provided the county with options, neither was taken. Obviously, raising the impact fee was not needed.

Looking at the current year's budget that was approved by the previous commission after the impact fee issue was put to rest, not a single measure was put forward by ANY commissioner to reduce spending and subsequently allow for a reduction in the property tax rate. Last year's budget spending actually increased 25% thanks to the infusion of state and federal funds, now this year the budget must address how to either reduce the spending or increase the revenue (taxes) to cover the spending increases in the next fiscal year. One of the first orders of business I'll be dealing with starting tomorrow.

I think I've said most of this previously in other posts on this website or in my videos.

[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by MartinSE

Thanks for the comment I am a liberal and I vote it will be for you if I get to vote.

I am sorry you are having negative comments from some Dems. I guess there are bad apples on both sides. Don't loose sight that there are good apples on both sides too.

Thank you, and you are correct, there are bad and good apples on both sides. This is however a very partisan race and is showing the discontent along party lines for the most part. Being civil will go a long way.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

Most everything was either addressed by me or previously by someone else except for the comment about my opinion on the impact fee.

....

I did not intend to criticize you or post #77. My only point was that post #77 did not speak to the multiple quotes in post #85.

The impact fee and tax increase has already been discussed to exhaustion in other threads.

[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

I did not intend to criticize you or post #77. My only point was that post #77 did not speak to the multiple quotes in post #76.

The impact fee and tax increase has already been discussed to exhaustion in other threads.

I'll be more than happy to address any issue. I'm not sure exactly what issues you are talking about in #76, I'm assuming that it was a typo.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

I'll be more than happy to address any issue. I'm not sure exactly what issues you are talking about in #76, I'm assuming that it was a typo.

Apologies. Post #85 included the quotes and appeared to point to post #77 to refute them.

I corrected my previous post.

[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Apologies. Post #85 included the quotes and appeared to point to post #77 to refute them.

I corrected my previous post.

Again, can you be more specific? There were a lot of comments there and as I said, I believe most had been either addressed by myself or others in the thread. If you don't like or agree with some of the answers it does not mean that they weren't answered or the answers were wrong, it is just a disagreement.
If you want, you can call me with specific questions, and I'll do my best to answer. My cell phone number is on the districtgov.org website and on my company website.

[Papa_lecki]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

I did not intend to criticize you or post #77. My only point was that post #77 did not speak to the multiple quotes in post #85.

The impact fee and tax increase has already been discussed to exhaustion in other threads.

Post 85 came AFTER post 77 - How could he possibly known what was going to be said in 8 posts?

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki

Post 85 came AFTER post 77 - How could he possibly known what was going to be said in 8 posts?

Post 85 gathered quotes from throughout the thread and then pointed to post 77 as if post 77 refuted the issues mentioned in the quotes. I was questioning why the author believed that post 77 refuted those quotes since post 77 didn't mention most of the issues and agreed with a few.

I have no questions or concerns for Mr. Wiley. It was not my intent to criticize Mr. Wiley nor to engage him at all. My only question was why the author of post 85 who included all the quotes thought post 77 refuted those quotes.

This has wandered too far off topic.