Residents: Guards can at least pretend
The guards aren't doing their job, residents say. But they're not allowed to keep anyone out anyway.
By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN
Published May 21, 2006
HERITAGE ISLES - Security guards need to be observant, punctual and professional. And at this golf course community, they apparently had better be good actors, too.
Homeowners are upset because the uniformed sentries at the gated entrance to this development off Cross Creek Boulevard aren't faking the motions of noting the license plates of visiting cars, in order to give the appearance that visitors are being tracked.
They want the guards to be better trained in feigning power. They are threatening to hire a different security firm.
"We were under the impression the guard would get out and pretend he was taking a look at the license plate," Dr. William Martello, a Community Development District supervisor, told a representative of the security company during a board meeting last week.
Board chairman Stephen Stark added that the guards not only remain in the shack, they're usually preoccupied.
"They're just sitting on the phone, having a good time. You might get a wave," Stark said. "This has been a more common response. We need to consider alternative companies."
The problem with the guards dates to 1998, when Heritage Isles was annexed into Tampa. The streets were public, financed by tax-free municipal bonds.
But developers already had erected the gates, so city officials said the gates could stay, as long as they didn't prevent people from entering.
The taxing district is arranging to acquire the roads, making them private. The city would have to deed the roads to the CDD; no money would change hands. But that process is not expected to be final until next year.
In the meantime, residents continue to pay $100,000 a year to have guards at the gates who cannot legally bar anyone from entering the community.
Michael Dougherty, who works for Critical Intervention Services Inc., the company that provides the security, said he felt "blindsided by the complaints."
"Up to this point, until you mentioned this part, I was unaware of it," Dougherty said during the meeting.
One resident suggested detailed instructions be posted inside the guard station describing the motions the guards need to take to pretend to be doing a job. But Dougherty scoffed at that idea, saying the guards are thoroughly briefed on their responsibilities.
Dougherty said he has spied on his employees a handful of times through binoculars and that on two occasions the guard did not step out of the guard shack.
"He and I had a conversation," Dougherty said.
He added: "We don't want to lose your business. But if you're that disappointed, you probably need to look elsewhere."
Dong-Phuong Nguyen can be reached at (813) 269-5312 or nguyen@sptimes.com.