Shut the barn door on that idea

The County Commission met Tuesday. Let’s ramble.

— First off, Sheriff Dave Vincent dropped in to say hi to commissioners. Just wanted to mention that.

— By a 3-2 consensus, the board will bid out the new Animal Shelter. Commissioners Janet Barek and Diana Finegan, for separate but equally silly reasons, said no.

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— Finegan isn’t happy that this facility, which is expected to cost north of $12 million, doesn’t have enough storage space. She claims that’s all she’s heard from shelter workers and volunteers, that this new shelter doesn’t have enough extra space.

— Finegan: “Does this make any sense? Are we going to lay out all of this money and have all the same problems they’re complaining about right now?”

— Several shelter workers and volunteers, including Director Colleen Yarbrough, sat in the audience. No one asked them if lack of storage is enough to kill the plan.

— I sometimes wonder if Commissioner Finegan comes up with these anti-everything arguments on the Tuesday drive from Homosassa to the Courthouse. There seems to be nothing behind them but griping. She’s in her third year.  Where is her vision for the animal shelter? Does she have one?

— Barek wanted to toss the entire plan out the window, buy the Chronicle building, rehab it for an animal shelter, and — get this — build a barn on the shelter property in Lecanto to house all the, you know, loose livestock roaming our county.

— I did not make that up.

— Barek: “I think we should take it back to the drawing board and start over. It’ll get us an animal shelter much sooner and better.”

— From the audience: “Boooo!!!”

— The animal shelter project hasn’t had much board unanimity from the start. So, a 3-2 vote isn’t unusual. What is odd is the reasons for the two no votes. Not enough storage? Build a barn?

— Community Services Director Eric Head, who has learned the delicate act of balancing commissioners, valiantly kept his cool while Finegan and Barek ripped the plan apart.

— Let’s see those two try that when the plan is Courthouse renovations and judges are in the audience.

— Not going to harp on this today, but definitely worth watching: Finegan and Barek each approach issues from a very negative standpoint. I know people alluded to that during the campaign, but now we’re seeing it play out in real time.

— A barn. You know, for all those stray horses and chickens.

— Sales tax talk went OK. Not great but thanks to Commissioner Jeff Kinnard, it didn’t go totally off the rails.

— Commissioner Holly Davis pushed hard for board consensus to hire a group that would get community opinion and move this along. She said the group will do it “for a reasonable fee.”

— Good gawd.

— She pushed HARD for this group. (I heard “Florida Land Trust” but I’m not sure if that’s the group, or what.) Said it has a great track record of sales tax referendum success in other counties. For some reason, knowing this subject was coming up, Davis spared us the details. Who’s the group? What’s the “reasonable” fee? Where was it successful? 

— Kinnard, the voice of reason, pointed out there may be Citrus County groups that will take the lead without the government giving them money to do it.

— I mean, c’mon. Let’s have some community conversation first. We’re at the starting line. Commissioners may have talked about this here and there with folks, but now’s the first time we’re inviting citizens to join in. 

— I’m telling you…the biggest challenge for commissioners on the sales tax referendum journey is staying out of the conversation until they’re invited in. 

— Finegan correctly said citizens have a trust issue with county commissioners. “We have to be very, very clear what we’re doing,” she said.

— Barek says she’ll listen, but sounds like she won’t budge off the ridiculous idea of a sales tax referendum to resurface neighborhood roads. 

— Kinnard, the board’s senior member, was blunt that any attempt by commissioners to jump out ahead of this would doom it to failure.

— Kinnard: “If it comes from this board or the Lecanto Government Building, it’s dead on arrival. If it’s for road resurfacing, it’s dead on arrival. We need to find out from the public, not the other way around, what’s important for them and what they would be interested in before going down this road with us.”

— At its Feb. 11 meeting the board will hear from groups to take the lead. Maybe that’s an outside group, or maybe local folks. Whoever it is has an enormous task. 

— I ask only one thing: Keep an open mind. We’re not voting on anything today. Let’s see how this process moves along. We’ll know a year from now whether it’s even worth putting a referendum on the 2026 ballot.

— That’s a wrap. Have a great Wednesday, friends.

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