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Hernando Today

Summit Leaders Identify Top Issues

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By MICHAEL D. BATES

Hernando Today

Published: March 19, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - About 95 government and community leaders met at an eight-hour summit Thursday to identify the top issues facing Hernando County.

Today, they begin tackling those issues and will report back in two years.

The morning session consisted of five committees updating summit members about progress made since the last event two years ago.

In the afternoon, committees broke up in smaller "breakout sessions" to vote on the top issues facing the county and to prioritize their new action plan they will work on for the next two years.

Here are the results of the voting in each category:

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Water resources.

• Cultural development.

• Adequate medical care for the insured and uninsured.

TRANSPORTATION

• Funding - where will the county get the money for road improvements?

• County Line Road - improve the time frame for widening and work on collaboration with Pasco County on the project.

• The importance of working with the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority as it moves forward with a regional transportation plan.

GROWTH

• Revising the county's comprehensive plan, with an eye toward identifying industrial lands in the county and areas to be set aside for preservation.

• Establish a "brand identity" for the county to attract visitors, businesses and tourists.

• Facilitating "good" industrial growth; have 30-day "shovel-ready" sites available for industry to move into quickly; invest in the necessary infrastructure to facilitate business growth.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• Give the Office of Business Development the tools it needs to promote economic development; create a dedicated incentive fund and provide operational money to help the department recruit new industry. Hernando County must be competitive with other counties, summit members said.

• Prepare for industrial growth by streamlining or modifying ordinances and zoning regulations. Target three geographic areas to increase up to 25 percent the available land for industrial purposes. Those areas (in order of importance) are Brooksville, East Hernando and the airport.

• All employees, including elected officials, must set the tone and prioritize permitting and other processes accommodating industrial development.

Summit members will meet regularly during the next two years and present their recommendations at the 2011 summit.

In another move, it was decided the education committee evolve into a separate entity called the Hernando Youth Initiative, which will hold its second annual summit in 2009.

Tracy Echols, former education committee chairwoman, developed the HYI and modeled it after the community summit. Lisa Hammond, president of the BHER Group, picked up the HYI reins.

Attending the 2009 summit, hosted by Hernando Progress, were various county and city government officials including four county commissioners: David Russell, Jim Adkins, John Druzbick and Rose Rocco.

Nick Sessa, owner of the Show Palace Dinner Theater and Palace Grand, said he gave this year's summit a "thumbs-up" because it provided a wealth of suggestions that are vital during this bad economy.

As someone involved in the entertainment industry, it allows him to determine what direction he should follow, he said.

Sanda Bassett, owner of Air Source, a cooling and heating company in Brooksville, said the grim statistics showing the high pregnancy rate among local teen girls and the escalating drug use was upsetting because they represent the future work force.

Those statistics, based on 2007 data, showed that 39.5 percent of teens have tried drugs or alcohol in the last 30 days; 18.8 per 1,000 teen girls got pregnant; there were 1,904 reports of child maltreatment.

It is imperative, Bassett said, for parents to instill self-value in their children so they won't turn to drugs and sex.

County Zoning Administrator Gary Fisher said the summit was productive and it gave people the opportunity to come together in one place and hash out ideas for the betterment of Hernando County.

Dennis Wilfong, chairman of the business development committee, said he has been in Hernando County since 1979 and has noticed an unprecedented degree of unity on the part of city, county government and the business community in bettering the economy.

Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or mbates@hernandotoday.com.

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