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Marion County Citizen Ideas
Ray,
You are running
a hell of a campaign...I must say it's the best County campaign job
I've ever seen.
Chris
Great!!! I'll be
voting for Ray, no problem
Bebe R.
Get and keep the
county city firefighters and EMS workers on your side and take care
of them. They will be there for you when you need them.
Anonymous
Ray,
I read this article and still cannot think
how backwards this county is. In Utah we took all of the yard waste
and animal waste and made piles and piles of this stuff, let it
ferment and then would sell it for compost for people's yards.
People would line up to get truckloads of this stuff. Why can't we
get this going? Not only was it great for gardening, but great for
recycling and getting part of the money back it took to make the
compost. People pay to come dump it or have it dumped, the landfill
makes it into a compost and then resells the product for $40 a load.
Many people are going to be growing their own gardens the more
viruses that come from the store bought veggies. Just my thought!
Maybe I am naive at this, but coming from a big city that is very
green, that is what I know. Also we now are getting the city manager
from South Jordan, Utah. How exciting is that. You should really get
in touch with him. The city that did the recycling of the manure and
yard waste was his city.
Take Care,
Brandie
In the last week
I have read in the paper how Marion County unemployment is the
highest in 14 years and how the city is closing 9 holes of the golf
course that Sisco Foods was supposed to build on with 1,500 jobs,
let's not forget about Wal-mart Distribution center -- another 1,500
jobs thrown away. From what I understand, there have been a few more
large job throw aways as well. Here we charge about $100,000 for a
commercial permit with impact fees, while Sumter County has a sign
on I-75 welcoming businesses with no impact fees. You need to
somehow wake up this county. We need ALL of the incumbent commission
OUT. If we do not there will be nothing left of this place, except
these almighty horse ranchers that really run the county and the
commission. Put it out there, give me some ammo. I will take out a
small add every week in the paper and come down on our local
government.
Good luck,
Mark R.
I
think it is great that you want to hear what we have to say. I
believe you should pay our Life Saver (Fire Fighters) and Protectors
(Police) what they are worth. They put their life on the line for
us, for less than what a fast food worker is paid. I believe they
should be top pay around Ocala/Marion County.
Thank you,
Nikki D.
Ray,
Aren't you running against Charlie Stone? He says he leads by
example. This is a gift to an opponent who can show that Charlie is
not leading to solve our problems.
Peter
Hi
Ray,
Thanks for bringing those facts back to mind. I still can't believe
we didn't land at least two of those distribution centers.
I
live in district #5 and you have my vote as well as Betty's.
Blessings,
Allen
Our county commissioners
It is time someone spoke up!
Our Board of County Commissioners recently
decided to request bids to replace our county building inspectors.
(not the department only the inspectors) The building official
provided the board with the cost per hour per inspector currently
employed by the county. Seven private providers furnished a per hour
fee rate for the same service. These numbers were returned to a
selection committee approved by the board. When the committee
clearly recognized that the current cost was considerably less then
that proposed by any private provider they recommended the board
retain the current work force as is.
The board in a “We are God” type action said
no! They, the board, have now ordered the bid process redone (now
that it has been made clear to the private providers exactly how
much it cost to do the job with county employees) This action
clearly gives the private providers an upper hand in the bid process
allowing the commissioners to force the current employees out of
their jobs. In any other arena this would be labeled bid rigging.
If this is to be considered fair should the
current inspectors not have some kind of input? The board members
have little to no knowledge of the inspectors’ job or
responsibilities while having the power to ruin their careers and
their families’ futures. Where are the commissioners during the
daily routine of the inspectors? Why do they not go to the
department and gain input and knowledge before performing these rash
decisions? Is it because the building department is self funded thru
permitting with no money going to each of the board members
districts? Is it because the board side shifted 2.3 million dollars
from the building department, a self funded county department, for
other uses?
This is not only unethical but possibly in
violation of state statutes. when the building department heads ask
the board how they could help solve the problem they were simply
told to sit down and shut up and to go back to the building
department and tell them to shut up also! (it is in the meeting
minutes)
The building department recently experienced
a severe drop in revenue with the onset of the down swing in
building in the county. When an analysis was done by the department
staff it was clear that some permits were costing more to service
then was being charged.
When the Building official found this out he
approached the commissioners with a request to raise permit fees to
cover the difference. If the 2.3 million in reserve had not been
used elsewhere the request would not have been needed. The
commissioners, some of who are county builders or associated with
the building industry who directly profit from lesser permit fees,
said NO, we are not raising permit fees and we do not want to hear
any more about it! This type of control should not be accepted by
the people of this county!
Speak up call your commissioner; let them
know you are here. The damage that will be done by allowing a two
year private provider contract will take years to repair. Talk to
anyone that knows the full aspect of the repercussions and you will
begin to understand.
Our county will see reduced building
standards and an increase in homeowner insurance rate before the
final fallout!
We currently have a well trained and
dedicated pool of building inspectors.
Losing them at this point in time would be a
great loss to this county.
UPDATE 07/10/2008
The commissioners have been told redoing the
bidding process as is could be challenged legally so in their
typical GOD like actions they are redoing the process to include THE
ENTIRE BUILDING DEPARTMENT (clerks, intake personnel, plans
examiners and supervisors)
MT Causley has already been approved (behind
closed doors) for the private contract
When will someone step up and challenge these
actions?
ANOTHER UPDATE as of 07/15/2008
evidently someone with some power of some
sort got to them. ( the commisioners) They have now given John
Schulkers 180 days to show improvement in the department. This will
not be a problem since they have allowed him to restructure
the permit fees to acomplish a positive cash
flow. Mr. Schulkers requested this exact same thing some weeks ago
and was told ABSOLUTEY NOT! For them to do a complete turn around at
this point appears to be a clear effort to save face
while bowing to the demands of their county
residents that have been talking to them. It was suggested that they
return
the Building Department's 2.3 million
investment but that was conveniently shifted away from!
If you or anyone you know are one of those
county residents that got to talk some since into their political
minds
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!
See you at the voting booth.
Anonymous
If water is in such short supply and use
is under restriction, why does the county continue to let developers
turn pasture land into subdivisions with water thirsty lawns? What
total nonsense. Where are the proper impact fees on new residential
development?
Anonymous
Bring more companies to Marion County.
Train and hire the people that are living in Marion County. About
75% of the people living in Silver Spring Shores would like commuter
rail. Do away with the One Stop Program and replace it with a
Regional Occupational Program (ROP) like the one in Southern
California. This program is affordable and would get the citizens of
Marion County back to work.
Anonymous
Run Ray Run!
1) Get Baseline Road widened.
2) Implement a mandatory recycling program
with additional deposit fees for packaging.
3) Abandon Impact fees on construction.
4) Eliminate 35% of all county payrolled
employees.
5) Buy from Marion County vendors only.
6) Provide utilities extensions where
needed by the school system.
7) Build a 1000 acre commerce center.
8) Build a 500,000 square foot multi-use
convention/trade show center.
9) Expand SR 40 to Daytona Beach.
10) Provide tax incentives for
redevelopment in existing decaying corridors.
11) Build a 20,000 seat minor league
baseball facility and secure a spring training team.
12) Secure regular air service to Orlando,
Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, Tallahassee. (US Air, Jet Blue...)
13) Bring in Aerospace, Defense,
Automotive, and manufacturing. (NASA)
14) Convert CFCC to a 4+2 year
college/university.
15) Build a Lazy River attraction (I swear
this will make money in Marion!)
16) Secure wellfields against perimeter
development. Locate wells in the Ocala Forest. Get them NOW!
Terry J
Ocala
Ray,
I
applaud your commitment to Public Safety of the citizens of Marion
Co. The current Commissioners have voted to force the Ambulance
service into the Fire Dept. Now the "Transition Team", that is
charged with establishing the process, has chosen to slash the
salaries of all the experienced EMTs and Paramedics that currently
deliver a high level of "Quality Care". By doing so all of our
Professional Medical providers are looking to other Counties (that
let EMS stay medically focused" for employment opportunities. Losing
these people will instantly cause a decrease in Quality of care to
all citizens. My family deserves the best Emergency Care that we can
afford not the "Cheapest" that is proposed by the Fire Chief.
Keep up the good work
Bret C
Ray,
Good to hear you on 'The Sky' with Chip on
Tuesday p.m., regarding your bid to run for the Marion County
Commission.
Last we met; I was providing consulting
services for Kurt Kelly.
Your comments are valid and I believe the
electorate will embrace a platform of service rather than self
service.
God bless,
Allen, J.
Hi Ray,
I just listened to your hour on Pulse of the
Taxpayer. Good job man!
You can across as personable, knowledgeable,
and very reasonable. You articulated an understanding of free-market
principles and a commanding proficiency with public policy. I
thought the appearance went very well.
Two thumbs up!
Gary S.
Ray:
My commendation for your presentation last
night at the Silver Springs Shores Resident's Association Meeting.
You are a breath of fresh air!
Your website is awesome!
Mark H.
Ray:
I'm glad I got a chance to hear you speak on
WSKY Talk Radio yesterday. I generally listen to NPR, but flipped
over just before Flip Morris introduced you. I tried to call in,
but info gave me the WSKY business number, and no one picked up the
phone.
I hope you are successful, since I feel the
Marion County Commissioners by-in-large are non-responsive and often
do not reflect the will of the people.
A bright idea for you to consider
I've got an idea for you, whom I suggested to
the editor of the Star Blunder a month ago, but I got no response.
Never-the-less, it goes along with your idea to pay county
commissioners less.
My idea is to have more commissioners
and pay them less.
For example, I suggest we have five
seats by district (like now) and four more seats "at large".
As it is now, it takes only three
commissioners to agree on a housing project, road expansion,
shopping center or other capital request. In other words, if three
of the commissioners are "friends" with a developer, the developer
can pretty much bank on getting what he (or she) wants.
With nine commissioners (paying them $30,000
to $36,000 per year), it will take five commissioners to
agree on anything. This will make it more difficult for special
interests to get what they want, and hopefully make commissioners
more responsive to the will of the people.
I encourage you to add this concept to your
"cut the salary" concept, and you most likely will pick up more
support along the way.
You have good ideas, such as raising the
average income of people who live in Marion County. Our company
came to Marion County ten years ago with four employees. Now we
have over forty. We have a 99 year lease at the Marion
County Airport in Dunnellon, and we pay our employees way more than
the average in the area. We are living proof the county and private
firms can work together for everyone's benefit.
Good luck to you, Ray, in your campaign.
Best regards,
Neal D.
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