Independence Still A Ways Away

A warning was given at the start of Wednesday's fire board meeting.

The Spring Hill Fire Rescue District is not yet independent. Business should continue as usual with that in mind.

"While we're marching toward independence, we shouldn't think we're already independent," said fire commissioner Leo Jacobs.

Wednesday was the first public meeting following last week's election - when Spring Hill voters approved a referendum requesting independence for their fire district. They also elected three commissioners to the board.

Amy Brosnan, John Pasquale and Rob Giammarco attended their first meeting as elected board members. The latter has sat on the board since last year, but was appointed by the county.

"This is far from done and over," said attorney Andrew Salzman, who represents the board of fire commissioners.

The next big step is to have a bill written and presented to the Florida Legislature. Interim Fire Chief Mike Rampino and Salzman are scheduled to meet today with Rep. Rob Schenck, R-Spring Hill, to discuss the language of the bill.

Salzman told fire commissioners the piece of legislation would include issues "you must talk about as it's being written."

That would include setting a maximum millage cap. Once it is set and the bill is passed, the board could not go above it without approval from voters. It is likely the millage cap will be set at 2.75.

The current millage rate is 2.2686.

The Legislature is expected to present the bill in session in 2009.

"We don't anticipate any problems with that," Salzman said.

If the Legislature approves it, the referendum must go again before voters, which could happen in late 2009 or sometime the following year. Either way, it should be done during an existing election, Salzman said. The payment for a special election would land squarely on the district.

The bill must be written and approved by the fire board by mid-December, Jacobs said.

If and when the Legislature passes the bill, a new election also would be scheduled to elect a new, five-member board.

Salzman said he would like to see Schenck and other local lawmakers subvert that step. Three fire commissioners were just elected and two more seats will be open in 2010. Another election would be redundant, he said.

In other district news:

Two ambulances were sold for a total of $13,000.

Due to age and excessive mileage, the vehicles were removed from the district's fleet. The prior chief, J.J. Morrison, asked the board to donate them to Pasco-Hernando Community College.

Instead, the board decided to sell them. They were sold at a recent public auction.

The money will go into the district's general fund.