Changing Of The Guard

The changing of the guard on the county commission takes place tomorrow when incoming board members James Adkins and John Druzbick are sworn in.

Administrative Circuit Judge Daniel Merritt will do the duties at the start of the meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. Following that, the board will take a brief recess as well-wishers gather and picture-takers get some snapshots of the occasion.

Republican Druzbick beat out two-term Democrat Diane Rowden for the District 3 seat, while Republican Adkins defeated Democrat Chris Kingsley in District 5.

Both men will be thrown into the action quickly as the commission tackles a lengthy agenda.

• Commissioners will be asked to approve a request to donate park site property at the intersection of Mariner Boulevard and Partridge Street to the ARC Nature Coast.

ARC is planning to build a new training facility that will double as a hurricane shelter for the developmentally disabled.

• Board members will consider a resident petition request to create a Multiple Service Benefit Unit to pave Osprey Avenue - from Eskimo Curlew Road west to Fulmar Road - within the Royal Hills and Royal Highlands subdivisions.

The preliminary construction cost is $66,654.

Under an MSBU the county is responsible to pay for one-third, or $21,996, of the construction cost and the property owners the remaining two-thirds, or $44,658.

• Representatives from The Dawn Center, a domestic and sexual violence shelter of Hernando County, has requested the sheriff's office provide them funding from its law enforcement trust fund.

Sheriff Richard Nugent will ask commissioners for $30,000 to fund the programs, which are focused on school-age children to reduce the incidents of domestic violence through prevention and education.

Nugent is a board member on The Dawn Center.

"Without the assistance of this shelter, I have no idea how many people would continue to be abused and/or face death as a result of the domestic and sexual violence situation they are involved in," the sheriff wrote.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. tomorrow at the Hernando County Government Center, 20 North Main St. in downtown Brooksville.