Hernando: Hernando digest

BROOKSVILLE -- The Brooksville City Council voted Wednesday to hire D.C.W. Construction Inc. to help city workers improve the drainage behind the Jerome Brown Community Center. The city had planned to do the work with its own employees but was ordered by the Southwest Florida Water Management District to complete it in 45 days. The problems surfaced after heavy rains last summer flooded some surrounding property. When Swiftmud examined the site last year, it determined the work, performed by city staffers, had not followed the engineer's design.

Fire commission wants vote delayed

SPRING HILL -- The Spring Hill Fire Rescue Commission voted Wednesday to ask county commissioners to conduct a referendum on the fire district's independence in November, not September as originally proposed. "There's more people that come out to vote in November," chairman Bob Kanner explained, noting also that many part-time residents are not in town for the primary. "Everybody has to have the opportunity to decide ... whether they want this district to be independent." The County Commission has asked its lawyers to propose language that might appear if it agrees to place the item on the ballot. Individually, members have said they support the initiative, but as a board they have taken no stance. The Fire Rescue Commission has endorsed independence as a way to make the district more efficient, rather than relying on county government for purchasing, paperwork and other duplicative services. Its members have pledged that, if independent, they would not seek to increase the district tax rate without voter approval.

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