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Commission takes path of least voter resistance

By JEFF WEBB
Published September 17, 2006

A week-and-a-half ago, the Spring Hill Fire Rescue District commissioners were backed into a corner.

The Hernando County Commission told them they had one last chance to agree to put their dispatchers under the control of Sheriff Richard Nugent early next year and report to work in the spanking new Emergency Operations Center in Brooksville. If the fire commission didn't agree, the County Commission threatened to exercise its absolute authority to delete up to $500,000 from the annual budget of Spring Hill's only governmental entity.

The fire commission stood its ground.

At a meeting Wednesday night, its members voted unanimously not to consolidate. They protected their turf. They stepped over the line the County Commission had drawn in the sand, stuck out their collective chests and said "Bring it on."

And on Thursday night, less than 24 hours after the fire commission called their bluff, the county commissioners backed down.

No rumble. No pushing or shoving. Not even an angry word or a promise to get even.

Do what you want, the County Commission told the fire commission, knowing full well that making good on its threat would save taxpayers money and, according to some observers, lives by shaving seconds off response times.

The irony here is that the County Commission had just spent hours listening to residents complain about high taxes, property appraisals and the need to cut government spending. A majority of commissioners agreed that should be done and then voted to lower the tax rate by one-half mill.

Then, after the cut-the-fat crowd had cleared the meeting chamber in Brooksville, the county commissioners more or less shrugged, as if it never had been an important issue, and decided not to save taxpayers a significant amount of money.

Why? Because they said they did not want to undertake a "hostile takeover," as Nugent characterized it with obvious reluctance and frustration. Nugent had finally realized that his three years of lobbying the commission to consolidate dispatch services had been a waste of time. The commissioners had neither the foresight nor the fortitude to take a stand and defend the proposal. Nugent had neither the inclination nor the patience to pursue it any longer.

And that crystallizes a problem with this commission. Its members aren't willing to follow through on their tight-fisted rhetoric when it comes to riling up the people who put them into office. In this case, the potential savings in the county budget apparently had less value than the voting bloc in Spring Hill.

Next week, it could be people in Spring Lake or Brooksville or Hernando Beach who solicit the commission's favor, also to the detriment of residents elsewhere. The only difference is that those communities do not have the statutory rank - or backbone - the Spring Hill fire commission showed last week. That group of five has the county commissioners right where it wants them - retreating, waiting for reinforcements from a consultant and the Clerk of the Circuit Court's appointed committee to tell them what to do.

But if the county commissioners didn't have the determination to follow through on their threat about consolidating dispatch services, what are the chances that, if a consultant recommends consolidating entire fire districts, they will be decisive?

Allow me to venture an answer to that question:

It will never happen.

As long as the commission continues to take the path of least voter resistance on its journey to the next election, residents of Hernando County will continue to eat their dust.

And what about that 500-pound gorilla lurking in the corner of the Spring Hill fire commission's meeting room? The one that just stared down the County Commission?

It will continue to thump its chest, knowing that neither commission really cares how many bananas it eats. There are plenty of taxpayers to keep it fat and happy.

Reach Jeff Webb at webb@sptimes.com or 352 754-6123.

[Last modified September 17, 2006, 08:17:07]