Streamlining Plan Unveiled

The public will get their first chance to hear about the county's new reorganization plan during Tuesday's commission meeting.

County Administrator David Hamilton's plan would trim departments and redeploy existing resources for a proposed savings of at least $500,000 the first year of operation.

The plan also calls for the creation of a "leadership team," chaired by Hamilton and designed to facilitate inter-governmental communications and information sharing.

Hamilton would like to start this reorganization plan Jan. 1.

To start the process, he has already met with all Constitutional officers and department heads and is planning staff meetings throughout November.

Hamilton also wants to involve residents in the process and will announce public hearings in the near future.

"This is an exciting opportunity to engage our organization and our county in what will likely be significantly broadening discussions over the next few months," Hamilton said.

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

Also at Tuesday's meeting:

• County Engineer Charles Mixson will discuss the possibility of dust control on additional lime rock roads throughout the county.

Commissioners earlier this month approved a prioritized list of lime rock roads to receive surface treatments and asked staff to explore funding to get two of the most-traveled ones - Thrasher Avenue and Bailey Hill Road - done at the same time.

As part of its capital improvement program, the county allocated $390,000 per year for the next five years for dust control of lime rock roads.

Hernando County has about 500 miles of lime rock roadways, and residents who live on many of them have raised repeated concerns about the dust.