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Jacobs, Panozzo for fire board

The Spring Hill Fire Rescue District Commission was tested this year. While fire Chief J.J. Morrison was on disability leave for most of the year, the commissioners fended off advances from the Hernando County Commission and Sheriff Richard Nugent to consolidate dispatch services in the county's soon-to-be-completed emergency operations center.

Assistant Chief Bill Davies and the fire commissioners held their ground, with the sheriff and the County Commission eventually acquiescing, despite the prospect of saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in a mean season of budget-cutting.

On the front line for the fire commission were Leo Jacobs and Gene Panozzo, incumbents who are now asking voters to leave them in the game. Both have earned that privilege.

Panozzo, a disability retired firefighter from Chicago, has been on the fire board for 14 years. Although he is not exactly an inspirational leader, he is stable, dependable and established, stepping to the fore when necessary and willing to step aside when he finds himself or the district in an untenable situation.

Panozzo, 67, says that if he's re-elected, this will be his last term on the fire commission. His institutional knowledge of the fire district has certain value, and there is no compelling reason to deny him that opportunity.

At the other end of the leadership spectrum is Jacobs, 71, a retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and fire equipment salesman who was appointed to fill a vacated position on the commission in 2004.

Jacobs is driven, a commissioner who has shown more energy for this largely thankless policymaking job than any in recent memory. While prone to elucidation, he consistently questions the status quo and uses independent research to offer solutions to every problem he identifies.

Just as important, Jacobs understands his responsibility to be responsive to the public he serves. That was evident when he built consensus among his very reluctant colleagues to connect with taxpayers by televising fire commission meetings.

There are only two seats open and three people are on the Nov. 7 ballot in this nonpartisan, nonsalaried contest. The third candidate is Douglas Tatum, 44, a retired paramedic who is strong on experience and demeanor, but who is closed-minded on key issues, including taking the next step to broadcast the fire commission's workshop meetings, and his urgency to ask Spring Hill voters, for the third time, to free the district from budgetary oversight of the County Commission.

Tatum should better familiarize himself with the fire district's budget, reconsider his predisposed perspectives. If he does, he should try again in two years, when other seats come open on the fire board.

We recommend Spring Hill voters who are eligible to vote in this race return Panozzo and Jacobs to their seats on the fire commission.

Douglas Tatum is invited to respond to this recommendation of his opponents. The reply is limited to approximately 250 words and must be received no later than noon Tuesday. Deliver to: Jeff Webb, editor of editorials, Hernando Times, 15365 Cortez Boulevard, Brooksville. Fax to 754-6133, or e-mail to webb@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 19, 2006, 06:57:41]