Hey--That is Quite A Hornet's Nest!

Sometimes a "Hornet's Nest is a figure of
speech referring to an explosive issue or problem. 
Sometimes, like this week and
in relation to this 6-foot tall hornet's nest in D1,
It literally is about an actual "Hornet's Nest"

 Thursday morning was very hectic, as the Escambia BCC had two back-to-back meetings scheduled on some very important and pressing topics.  Early that morning, before the meetings, I received a Facebook instant message from a constituent that was concerned about a large bee's nest on Perkins street.  So I replied to this gentleman that I would forward the issue to staff, which I did.

Then we had the meetings on multiple subjects that are swirling around the county.  Road Swap, master plan, environmental issues, transportation issues, etc. etc.

So with so much swirling on my radar, to include several brewing issues with homeowners angry with their developer in multiple locations--when I received a call from Channel 3's Hannah Mackenzie early Thursday afternoon--I fully expected the question to be about the road swap, the jail, storm water, the budget, Perdido Key, Perdido Bay, traffic, 9-Mile Road, Crime issues, or any one of a dozen or more topics.

"Hey Commissioner, that is quite a hornet's nest" the conversation began when she called me after the hectic meeting(s).  My literal response to her was "Which ONE?!?" [INSERT RIMSHOT] as I laughed.

I honestly thought she was speaking of some known problem in the county, one of the many issues we had discussed at the morning meeting(s)--because God knows we have multiple issues that could be considered "kicked over hornet's nests."

Only after a subsequent exchange with Hannah did I realize that no, she wanted to know if I knew what was going to happen with the Actual Hornet's nest on Perkins street? (Unbeknownst to me, the resident who contacted me early Thursday on Facebook had also contacted Channel 3 about the nest, and WEAR Channel 3 had gone out and filmed it for a story)

So I did engage staff, and multiple personnel, about the issue of the actual, real Hornet's nest issue.
Here is the bottom line, latest information, from staff that visited the site and assessed the situation:

"Commissioner:

I visited the site this afternoon to evaluate any options the County may have to assist with this health and safety complaint. Mr. XXXXXXX arrived while I was on-scene and we discussed his concerns regarding the bees and recent treefall events that had brought down power lines. Mr. XXXXXX escorted me onto a neighbors property where we could view the backside of the tree which showed evidence of significant rot at the base as well as approximately 20’ off the ground.

In my opinion, this condition of this tree meets the conditions constituting nuisance under Section 42-111(b) of the Escambia County Code of Ordinances due to the obvious decay and proximity to County road/right-of-way

(b) The existence of any dead or dying trees on private property which, if permitted to remain, is likely to endanger the health, safety, limb or property or cause any hurt or harm, damage or injury to any one or more individuals or their property while using county roads or rights-of-way. (Ord. No. 2007-1, § 1, 1-4-2007)

Sam:

Please have an officer coordinate with Jimmie to confirm my assessment and proceed with the Notice process to address this hazard.

The property reference number for the subject property is 02-2S-31-4102-000-010 and is in the 5000 block of Perkins Street."

As a practical matter, I'm told the process going forward will be that the owner of the property will be cited and given about 10 days to correct the issue (have the tree removed).  If the owner fails to do so, then the county will take additional steps to compel this individual to remove the tree.  If this fails, only then could the county step in (as this is private property) and undertake an abatement of the problem while simultaneously assessing the property owner for the costs associated with this removal.  So that's where we are at right now with the story of the actual "hornet's nest."