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| I will be releasing more information later this week on a citizen's advisory committee that I will be forming to provide input for managing the tremendous growth in the Northwest portion of District 1. This will be on Next Thursday's agenda |
I am bringing a resolution to the June 7th BCC Meeting to establish a 9-member citizens advisory committee to advise on and provide input upon the planning for growth in the Northwest portion of District 1. Geographically, the area this group will focus on will be Beulah, the Pine Forest, Wilde Lake, and Longleaf areas as indicated on the above map and corresponding to precincts 43, 5, and 68.
Specifically, this group of volunteers, whom I will select from applications from the public (limited to citizens that reside in Escambia County)-- will be tasked with providing policy recommendations in the following categories of pressing interest:
--enhancing the quality of life
--addressing transportation issues of importance
--providing recommendations/advice on managing growth
--providing input to help in the development of a Master Plan for this area that will complement and
comport with the Master Plan for OLF-8 that will be developed in the 2018-2019 timeframe.
Additionally, this "Northwest District
1 Advisory Committee" (“Committee”) shall explore, research, provide technical
or practical expertise, and make recommendations to the District 1 member of
the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners regarding those additional issues of
importance to
the Northwest Portion of District 1 of Escambia County.
The
Committee shall:
A.
Receive,
coordinate, and consolidate input regarding such issues from individuals,
groups, economic entities, and government entities; and,
B.
Investigate
possible solutions for pending issues of importance to the Northwest portion of
District 1 of Escambia County; and,
C.
Submit
to the Board of County Commissioners an annual report regarding issues
deliberated by the Committee and such other reports and recommendations as the
Committee may deem advisable.
4 comments:
I hope it's a Win/Win!
Did someone in charge of you stop the anonymous comments?
This looks way overboard for citizen involvement. Why don't just just take comments and input from citizens and use staff that is paid. Citizens have jobs and lives. I suspect this is made so indebth and complicated to actually "twart" citizen input. It is a know fact that you have said you don't care for the peanut gallery and that you are under home rule. I get it. Yes you were elected. Why are you making it so hard?
Anon 10:01-Agreed!! Anon 10:24-No!! Anon 11:54-Advisory committees have been huge in fostering input and participation from large swaths of the community, so I therefore disagree with your assessment. In fact, when I served on the school board for a decade and I voted to close 11 schools in that time and re-zone the attendance boundaries (which believe me, created massive upheaval, anger, vitriol, and gnashing of teeth,---we chartered citizens advisory committees to help in this daunting task. When we closed Carver Century K-8 in 2009--I was nearly mobbed as I left that meeting in Century; There were hundreds of people at that meeting that BEGGED us not to close that school--even though it was clearly the right thing to do for rational, sane, and economic reasons. The board voted 3-2 to close that school largely on the recommendation of a citizen's advisory committee. So yes, there are some important, divisive decisions coming up for the communities of the Northwest portion of District 1 and I see the same sort of need for committed, interested, community-minded volunteers to serve on this committee and to help foster citizen input on pressing issues of great concern in this rapidly growing area of District 1. I will not nominate self-interested, single-minded, one-topic people to this committee. I want a broad assortment of open-minded citizens with knowledge, expertise, and an open mind on all issues to serve. This is what my aim is, and this is what I am working to do. I am not making it hard, I am making it intelligent. And to your point about the peanut gallery---I know they will always be present and that is just a normal, garden-variety fact of life that I deal with in politics. It is what it is. The only problem becomes when politicians become gumby dolls and do the bidding of the peanut gallery even when it is irrational. I won't do that, never have and never will. We live in a constitutional republic, not a pure democracy. It is not leadership by group-think, it is leadership by informed, rational decsionmaking based upon facts and input. That's the way it works.
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