OLF 8 Zoning Decision Request from Staff Was Premature.....

Staff had requested we make a selection today (see above) regarding our newly acquired OLF 8 property in Beulah--the board decided this was premature and instead voted to wait until AFTER the master plan is completed to assign the zoning and future land use designation...

Today we had a very brief discussion about OLF 8.

Staff wanted us to choose a zoning designation and a future land use category from among two choices that would fit the parcel (pictured above).  They wanted a decision on this today.

For my part--I felt such a decision was very, very premature and I stated this at the onset of the meeting and discussion.  

I believe the master planner should be engaged and allowed to do his work to identify the highest and best use for the property and to develop a plan based upon our guidance document----before we "put our thumb on the scale" by pre-determining the zoning and FLU.

My counterparts on the dais agreed, and we wisely decided to wait until AFTER the master plan is complete to assign these designations to the property.

I'm glad we ended the discussion this way and that we did not put the cart before the horse...

Blocking Citizens from a Public Official's Official Site---I Don't Do It

Come one, come all. 

Everyone is welcome to comment here on my blog or on my official Commissioner's Facebook site.

And they always have been!

I have been aware, for a while now, that allowing citizens to access and interact with my Commissioner's social media sites is not only a good practice--it is required!

So I don't block ANYONE from accessing and/or commenting on these sites--with the caveat that threats or obscenities are not permitted and that comments to my blog go through moderation for language/spam etc prior to appearance on the site..

So it comes as an odd surprise that today I am being accused of blocking people from my public commissioner sites--which is a lie.

The ironic thing is......the person that is making the claim visits and comments frequently.  See below screenshots or go to my facebook site and look at his comments in real time

It is odd and peculiar for folks to lie about something like this, I wonder what the motivation for this is???  look at the screen shots below and see for yourselves!!

Pop-Up Tent Sale Prohibition Ordinance Passes 1st Public Hearing via a 4-1 Vote...

Some folks and their acolytes say "I'm not personally aware of any problems, therefore there must not be any problems"  which is ridiculous.  We are aware of many complaints in this "pop-up tent car sale" arena--- and the board made the wise vote 4-1 to move this regulation forward

The pop-up tent car sale ordinance passed on Thursday by a 4-1 vote.  Next month it will come back to the board for a final vote where I predict it will pass via another 4-1 vote.  One interesting comment came up during the deliberations before the vote.  One of my counterparts said he was personally unaware of "anyone coming to the BCC complaining of this issue."  But as I explained to him at the meeting--just because he doesn't know about issues with these sales--does not mean there are "no problems" with these sales.  I am personally aware of one person who recently purchased a lemon from a South Florida dealer here locally--and she is paying the price now for this "great deal!"  We also had dealers, at the podium, holding page after page of unflattering reviews of these pop-up dealers.  So, just to be clear, if one Commissioner does not know of something, this does not mean that something is not happening (as if nothing can be real unless he has PERSONAL knowledge of it)  Newsflash to this commissioner:  Large trees fall all the time in the forests--and when they do, they make noise even if you don't hear it.  But to those that believe what they hear this one person say unflinchingly--check out this email that ALL commissioners received just one day after the vote.


"Dear Sirs,
I understand you're considering whether to ban or restrict out-of-area auto vendors who set up tent sales in Escambia County.
I am all for keeping them out.
A year or two ago, I received a postcard promising a prize if I'd come by the tent to check my numbers or some such. When I went by, I was told that I'd won a gift card but they were all out. They'd send me something, the salesman said. I gave him my mailing address (which they had from the postcard, theoretically). I never received anything.
Using the scant information on the postcard, I dug around online and determined where the business was based. They used a network of business names to make it tough to track them down, but once I had it figured out, I filed a complaint with their local Better Business Bureau.
The dealer responded and promised again to send the gift card, and the complaint was quickly closed with "resolved." Again, I never received anything.
Sure, that was just a $5 or $10 gift card, not worth even the effort I put into it. However, the whole situation speaks volumes about the business.
Why wouldn't they put the name and location of their dealership on their advertising and promotional dealerships? I had to look the name up they used on Sunbiz, find the principals' names, and search for other businesses they were associated with to narrow it down.
Why would they make promises they had no intention of keeping? Twice! They set the rules for their promotion. They could have made sure that only a set number of cards had the "winning number." They could have added the notation "while supplies last" (and I never would have wasted my time going to the tent). Then they assured me they would send the gift card and never did.
If they can't handle a simple promotional giveaway and treat a potential customer fairly, I have no doubt that they would misrepresent the cars they are selling and the terms for any financing they might offer.
We are better off without them.
Thank you for your time.
XXXXXXXX   XXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX  XXXXXXX St.
Pensacola, Fla."

Offer of $1.1 Million for 15 Acres of OLF 8 Arrives at the County...($73,000.00 per Acre)

This letter of intent, above, was submitted to the county yesterday--offering $73,000.00 per acre for a portion of OLF 8.  Our two most recent estimates have come in at $46,000.00 and $51,000.00 per acre, respectively, for portions of this property.  How in the world could anyone have believed, less than one year ago, that the entire 636 parcel was only worth $4.75 Million?? Talk about totally missing the mark and being dead wrong! 

Yesterday evening just as the BCC's regular meeting was to commence--I received the above document in an email.

I immediately forwarded this to the County Attorney and Acting County Administrator Amy Lovoy with the request that they share this offer with my counterparts on the board and appropriate staff....

There is TREMENDOUS interest in this property, because it is extremely valuable and most folks recognize this.  I still find it incredible that less than one year ago there was noise being put out by folks that the entire 636 acres was "only worth $4.75 Million..." Even more incredible and amazing is that there were astonishingly gullible and naive folks that actually believed this fiction.

Here we are in February 2019 and that fiction is officially, totally, and completely Debunked.....

Bold, Decisive Leadership Needed to Approve ST Engineering Aerospace Deal

I was proud to be a signatory to the original MOU for Project Titan back in October--now it is crunch time and I hope we can get this win for Escambia County and Pensacola--I hope we can get this project over the line!

I strongly support economic development, job diversification, and making our economy locally more resilient to the inevitable financial stresses and downturns that come and go in cycles.  High-tech jobs provide this diversification, and I support seeking these employers for our area.

If we follow through with Project Titan as we have planned
Pensacola and Escambia County will experience a huge
economic benefit from this effort

The project to bring a large MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) facility to Pensacola has been ongoing for the last 8 years.  While I was on the school board in 2012-2013-the local school district's vocational education department began preparing for these jobs.  The city of Pensacola pushed for these jobs. The County chipped in $Millions.  In 2018, the first hangar opened for business and we now have ST Engineering, the world's largest Aviation MRO provider with a significant presence in Escambia County.  (in addition our area boasts the world's largest credit union NFCU, and Ascend Performance Materials the world's largest producer of nylon 6 resin).  Having world-wide industry leaders in Escambia County is a GREAT thing to pursue and to have!

Now-- as we press for the next steps in creating the ST Engineering MRO campus in Pensacola that will employ an additional 1,325 citizens at above average salaries--we have run into a funding shortfall.

The County committed $10 Million to the effort last year, as did the city.

But some other funding sources needed to complete the deal have fallen short.   We are being asked to commit an additional $5 Million to the effort from the county.  I think we need to do this.

Here is why I support pushing forward with this project:

---1325 new jobs will be added that will pay an average of $46K per year plus benefits.  This payroll influx will stimulate housing and retail purchases that will also generate sales tax and property tax revenues for the County

---More than 70 local companies currently do business and supply ST Engineering with goods and services--this expansion of ST will increase sales of goods and services for these and other ST purveyor companies. 

---The 1325 new jobs plus the 400 existing jobs created from ST Engineering's Hangar 1 project will spin off an estimated 3,400 ancillary jobs in our community.

---Upon completion of the build out-ST engineering will pay $1.7 Million yearly in local taxes (County, City, School Board)--of which an estimated $652,470.00 yearly will come to the BCC.

---Millions of dollars will be spent locally and Hundreds of  additional temporary jobs will be created locally to support the design and construction of this campus if the project moves forward.

This project will provide good jobs to the community and a ladder to the middle class that many residents currently do not have.  The naysayers have come out in force to try and kill this project spouting propaganda and rhetoric like... "The amount of money per job is $XXXX--and that's too much" or "We can't afford to do this--we need to pay for infrastructure needs"  Here is the reality that disputes the naysayers--at least in my opinion.

The $210 Million should not be looked at as an amount of money per job...rather, it should be looked at as a pot of money that will be PAYING FOR PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE at the airport---assets that once built will spin revenue out for the city and county and assets that from the point of construction going forward will be the property of the citizens of our community.

And from my perspective as a County Commissioner--we will benefit greatly from leveraging all the benefits of this $210 Million Dollar project (compiled from multiple funding sources) for an investment of just over 7% of the total cost of the project (if we vote to add the $5 Million on Thursday to our original $10 Million commitment bringing our total commitment to $15 Million).  7% to get the benefits we will get is a fantastic deal. And if we look at what the county's tax dollars are paying per job--that number is actually just over $11,000.00 per job.  Do the math, $15 Million divided by 1325 new direct jobs.

Finally, the naysayers do not accept the reality of the situation when they talk about how expensive they believe this project is;  Remember to always think realistically when assessing the arguments of these naysayers.  These folks would have you believe that if we do not do this project, somehow we can still control and receive the benefit of the total project investment locally.  But this is simply not true.  If we do not push this forward, the $56 Million Triumph investment likely goes to one of our neighboring counties to the east, and Escambia loses out Pooof...gone! If this project goes away-ST Engineering will pull out the $35 Million they have earmarked for this deal and spend it elsewhere....Poof, gone! And the various other sources of tax proceeds that would have been spent on this deal---you guessed it---Pooof, gone to another part of the state.

 Bottom line---if we kill this project, this pot of money will ultimately fund some other Florida City's infrastructure.  That would be a huge loss if that happened.  The intelligent play here if we are thinking long game is to push forward with this project for the long-term benefit of our area.

Fixing the Fire Service Budgeting In Escambia County Part II

Is there a way to more intelligently budget for the fire service in Escambia County?  Answer--yes...

It is disappointing when a subject of universal community importance and concern becomes weaponized against those of us that make policy and set budgets using limited resources. 

Unfortunately this happens and it happens frequently in politics at the local level. 

When I was a school board member, when negotiations were not going the way the teacher's union wanted them to go, our meetings would become packed with union members wearing red shirts.  We would have dozens of speakers warning of the dire consequences of not adequately funding education.  Some speakers would become quite animated and aggressive.  It was ugly.  We got through these events, though. We compromised, and education in Escambia County continued.  But at no time did we ever NOT value teachers and education--we just had to make tough budget decisions.

Then in my first year as a county commissioner, the BCC was ridiculed and attacked viciously and unprofessionally in commercials, online, and on billboards when we did not immediately acquiesce to unrealistic and unsustainable salary increase demands from the Sheriff's department.  We went back and forth, did mediation, and eventually we reached a compromise agreement and a 4-year deal. We got the Law Enforcement Trust process fixed and we increased salaries---  But no matter what anyone said about us, no matter who said the board didn't respect and value law enforcement--those statements were always lies and that rhetoric was always pure propaganda--none of it was ever true.  (Unfortunately some very gullible folks actually believed this.  Sadly, some still do.  But it wasn't true--isn't now and it never was.)

So now we come to 2019 and the fire department budget is in the red.  Union negotiations are going on and some members of the career firefighter ranks are pushing us for more resources.  Some are getting aggressive online and at the dais.

Are there legitimate concerns about fire service equipment--yes?  And yes, the MSBU is not fully funding the budget of the fire service.

So now what?

Some folks would just love us to raise tax rates on command.  They say "we need the money, now raise taxes!"

But I'm never going to vote to raise the year over year tax rate on Escambia county property owners if there are other viable solutions to budget issues. I've never voted to increase rates in 12 years in public office--and I'm not starting now. We have to live within our budgets just like households and small businesses do.  And I do believe there are viable options available apart from raising year-over-year tax rates.

FIXING THE ISSUES WITH THE VOLUNTEERS

As I said in Part I of this series, we need to take some steps to help our yearly fire service fund increases become more predictable and larger--I went through some steps to do this in this earlier post.http://jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com/2019/01/fixing-fire-service-budgeting-in.html

But now I want to take it a step further and mention some additional measures that I feel need to be taken to make the agency more efficient going forward.

--First, we have to cut the bureaucratic red tape that is currently creating an unnecessary blockage in the training pipeline (e.g. right now there is a backlog of at least 15 additional volunteer firefighters that only need a live-burn certification to be fully qualified to run calls.  I'm told some of these volunteers have been waiting for 5 months for this certification. Some have gone or are going to neighboring counties for this training because they cannot get through the bureaucracy here in Escambia--which if true is unacceptable.  One knowledgeable individual with whom I spoke had a stark assessment of the reason for the hold up "They can't afford to pay the stipends if all the

Andy Marlette Manipulation....7.0

This cartoon is a parody of Andy Marlette's PNJ cartoon from today--where he accuses me of engaging in unprovoked attacks.  In actuality, Marlette is the one that engages in unprovoked attacks!

So two weeks ago Thursday-- I sent in a viewpoint article.  It was rational, measured and balanced.  I was looking to offer a reasonable compromise on the naming of the replacement Pensacola Bay Bridge that is under construction and will be completed in 2021.

What happened next?

PNJ cartoonist Andy Marlette wrote a scathing hit-piece article the Sunday after I submitted my viewpoint.  Instead of disagreeing with me or my position--he instead attacked me personally--calling me a "troll" and a "goober" (they printed my balanced and rational article the next day, on Monday.....low circulation day.  Through their attempts at condensing the piece I submitted--they also created several grammatical errors as well and left them in the version published......)

Marlette's Sunday article--meanwhile---was roundly criticized by posters on the PNJ site.

"Marlette is a dishonest editorialist"  wrote one facebook poster to the story....

"If you don’t agree with Mr. Bergosh, by all means say so. But to personally attack him by calling him a goober and a troll is really a sad commentary on yourself."  wrote another

"Its more like Marlette is trying to take a grain a sand and turn it into something its not..... 
The PNJ could do so much better giving Marlette his walking papers and just leaving his part of the page as "blank space". said yet another facebook poster

"I appreciate Mr. Bergosh speaking up. I don't know him at all but was happy to see his article and him standing up to do what is RIGHT!"...said another facebook poster to Marlette's hit job article"

So now what happens--I get a cartoon in the Saturday edition, today, that is "scolding" me for interacting with constituents on facebook and writing my opinions  there--insinuating I am engaging in unprovoked  "attacks" on my constituents which is rubbish.

Marlette should have drawn this cartoon with himself as the hate spewer----No problem.  I did it for him!