Leon County Commission Meeting Briefs – November 9, 2021

Leon County Commission Meeting Briefs – November 9,  2021

The Board recognized Chairman Rick Minor during the Leon County Commissioner meeting on Tuesday. Minor is wrapping his service as the Chair of the Board but will continue his service to Leon County on the commission.

Minor thanked the Board, County Administrator Vincent Long, and the attorney Chasity O’Steen for their leadership and hard work.

Commissioner Bill Proctor was unanimously elected as 2021-2022 Chairman for the Leon County Board of County Commissioners. He was nominated by Commissioner Nick Maddox and seconded by Commissioner Kristin Dozier.

Commissioner Nick Maddox was elected in a unanimous vote for the Vice-Chair seat on the Leon County Commissioner Board.

Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley addressed the Board. He commented that voting became a “political weapon” over the last election. Because of that, there was great disinformation disseminated to the public. However, Earley said he believes they are well funded and “well prepared” for the upcoming elections.

Claudia Blackburn delivered COVID-19 updates to the Board. According to the CDC, Leon County has had a positivity rate of 1.2% over the last week. The county’s vaccination rate is 61%. The CDC now recommends that everyone ages five and older should have a vaccine.

Commissioner Rick Minor suggested pulling item 18, the continuing of the county’s PACE Program. Minor said he had concerns regarding previous loans under Renovate America, which has gone bankrupt. He said he received a tip that Renovate America financing may have intentionally targeted disadvantaged Americans. However, after discussion, the commissioners passed the item unanimously with an addendum to hear a status report in a year.

The Board unanimously passed the Neighborhood First Program, which partners with the City of Tallahassee to engage residents and address poverty and inequity in neighborhoods within the 32304-zipcode. With the passing of this item, the county commits more than $6 million in recurring funds for services and programs. Additionally, the county has provided over $62 million in one-time funding, providing food, rent, utility, health, and micro-loans, for those most in need during the pandemic.

The County Commissioners approved a coordinated effort between the county, America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend, and the City of Tallahassee to determine barriers that exacerbate food insecurity in targeted neighborhoods in Leon County.

The Board discussed a request by the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency (CRTPA) to modify the CRTPA Board’s voting structure. The proposal would replace the CRTPA’s current weighted voting system with a single vote per member system, reducing the county’s vote share to 37% to 30%. The Board decided not to vote and will bring the item back to a future commissioner meeting in January 2022.

The commission authorized the proposed County Commission Redistricting Map to be submitted to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and file with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The proposed County Commission Redistricting Map changes are minimal and concentrated in one small portion of the county. A public hearing will be held on December 14, 2021, to consider adopting the proposed changes.

The Board awarded the three-year (FY2022-2024) Legacy Event Grant to Market Days ($211,000), Red Hills International Horse Trials ($285,000), Springtime Tallahassee Festival ($272,600), and the LeMoyne Chain of Parks Art Festival ($204,950).

4 Responses to "Leon County Commission Meeting Briefs – November 9, 2021"

  1. Neighborhood First Program…An example of Liberal Agenda growing the welfare state bigger and bigger. These policies do nothing to end poverty. Wake up people, Liberals are destroying your community and country. How many welfare queens are 3rd, 4th, 5th generation welfare queens? Liberal policies encourage people to stay on welfare.

  2. They did the county no favors when they included Yordon and Scott Maddox in the Waste Pro contract, gave tax dollars to JT Burnette for the Doubletree which is now going into foreclosure, the Boulos development on Apalachee Parkway, not including input from the surrounding neighborhood in the Amazon fulfillment center project, junkets to Amelia Island and Sandestin, giving taxpayer dollars to Sean Pittman ( the sheriff’s campaign manager) through the Sheriff under the guise of a lobbying contract, Nick Maddox double-dipping with a job at LCS and the Boys & Girls Club, Kristen Dozier benefiting from a sweet deal on a house from a person she give millions of dollars to (which went to her family’s construction company) who is now a convicted felon, and their allowing the County Administrator egregious overreach on a vaccine mandate which is illegal and costing taxpayers millions of dollars in fines, but to name of the few of the county boondoggles.

    Adds up to millions of dollars of misappropriated funds and for personal gain not to mention the time and energy expended not on the people they took an oath to serve… but themselves.

    Midterms cannot come soon enough.

  3. All the commissioners are guilty of backing Vince Long’s “Leon 14” boondoggle which cost us $5.7 million dollars. I just dont see DeSaintis ever deeming the county in compliance and waiving ofg the $5.7 Mil like what happened with the School Board.

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