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Highlands Today

Candidates Square Off For Sun 'N Lake Seat

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By JOE SEELIG

Highlands Today

Published: November 22, 2008

SEBRING - Unless someone else runs, landowners in the Sun 'n Lake of Sebring Improvement District will decide between incumbent Frank Guglielmi and challenger Richard E. "Dick" Miller for a seat on the district's board of supervisors.

Thus far, just Guglielmi and Miller have indicated a desire to run. Each man declared his candidacy at Wednesday's district board of commissioners meeting. However, candidates can declare and deliver proxy votes as late as Election Day.

Guglielmi will seek to keep the landowners seat he was nominated to when former supervisor John Negley resigned from the board just days before the district's January 2008 landowner's meeting.

Miller previously ran for a landowner seat but was defeated by Negley.

Tale Of The Tape

Both candidates are 70 years old and are retired.

Guglielmi and his wife, Margaret, married in 1961. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Miller and his wife, Kay, married in 1962. They have two children and two grandchildren.

Guglielmi, who worked as an automotive engineer, said he retired from General Motors in 1991. He earned his engineering degree from Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.

Guglielmi first rented in 1989, then bought a condo in Sun 'n Lake in 1993. They came down six months out of the year from Michigan until 1999, when they found their dream home and moved in permanently.

Miller holds degrees in urban planning, public administration and business and public service from Michigan State University. He retired in 1998 as a board member and senior vice president International Division of Wilbur Smith Associates.

The Millers have lived in Sun 'n Lake since 2000.

The two candidates have opposing philosophies regarding how elections in the district should be conducted. As the district is set up now, there are three landowner seats and two popularly voted seats on the board of supervisors.

Guglielmi believes that, for now, the voting system is fair and should remain as it is with landowner-elected supervisors in the 3-2 majority over the popularly-voted supervisors.

Although if elected his would be a landowners seat, Miller believes the time has come, because of increased population in the district, for the vote to swing to a 3-2 popular seat majority.

In the landowner election, each candidate attempts to get the majority of proxy votes from other landowners.

Guglielmi

"We have 11,300 empty lots here," said Guglielmi. "We have 3,300 homes, basically. We need to attract builders and developers."

If a developer comes in and wants to buy 600 lots and feels he has a voice, he would be more receptive to coming here, Guglielmi said.

"It's a matter of perception," he said. "We cannot afford to alienate anyone that would be willing to come in here and invest money in land.

Should renters, for example, have a vote? They're not stakeholders, he said.

He didn't deny that renters were indirectly affected by increased assessments, through higher rents.

"I think it's a fair system," he said. "You invest your money (in land), you have a vote. There are merits to both sides but at this point we need to attract investors. The more money they invest, the bigger their voice."

In a letter he mailed to landowners, Guglielmi told them as a board member holding a landowner seat, he's represented all property owners, whether they are residents of Sun 'n Lake or non-residents.

"Some of our residents feel this is unfair because of the perception that large landowners control the district when, in fact, the majority of lots, by far, are owned by individuals or the district itself and the district does not cast votes for board members," he wrote.

"There is a movement currently underway here at Sun 'n Lake sponsored by the 'Property Owners Association' and its candidate (my opponent) to dilute your voting rights by demanding another popularly elected seat even though the urbanization statistics do not support it."

Just to clarify, as the district builds out, the number of popularly voted seats would increase. Guglielmi contends that the number of developed properties in the district does not merit that the landowner seated 3-2 majority should swing to become a 3-2 popularly voted majority.

"To change the voting method before being justified by the urbanization statistics, would cause the non-resident property owners to lose their right to be heard as given to them by Florida Statute 189," he said.

Currently two sitting supervisors have been elected with the support of the POA, he said.

"Both of these supervisors support the idea that the local residents should have control of the board of supervisors despite of being aware that the majority of assessment money comes from non-resident and part-time resident property owners." he said.

"Every decision that I make and vote that I cast, regarding district business, is based on the belief that it will benefit all parties who have an investment in Sun 'n Lake of Sebring," Guglielmi wrote.

Guglielmi contends that the urbanization of the district is less than the 50 percent and more which would add another popular vote seat.

"I'm not beholding to anyone," he said. "And I'm not serving anyone's agenda. I want the community to improve and keep improving.

"I'm certainly not running because I need to keep busy," he said. "I take pride in the looks and appearance of my house."

He said reading district reports and campaigning haven't left him much time to keep his home the way he likes.

"I've probably been neglecting it lately," he said.

Miller

"The voting system in my opinion is archaic and really messed up," said Miller. "We have some people that can vote in both elections (landowner and popular).

"We have some who only vote in one election and we have a substantial number of people who can't vote at all in Sun 'n Lake. According to our charter you have to be a landowner to vote in either election."

In Sun 'n Lake's popular election, you have to be at least 18 years old, a citizen, a freeholder (landowner) or the spouse of a freeholder as well as a registered Highlands County voter, according to the Supervisor of Elections Office.

Tanglewood has about 2,400 residents with about half of them living there year-round, said Miller. Most own the homes, but none own the lots in Tanglewood, so they can't vote even in the popular-seat election.

Including renters there are somewhere between 1,200 to 1,500 people who meet the requirements to vote in the general election, who can't vote in Sun 'n Lake, Miller said.

"There is something inherently wrong when you've got a situation where substantial numbers of people cannot participate," he said. "On top of that when they do get to cast a landowner vote, you've got one 800-pound guerilla (a landowner that owns hundreds or thousands of lots or acres) that negates everyone's vote in Sun 'n Lake."

Large Sun 'n Lake landowners include National Recreational Properties Inc. (NRPI), Florida Hospital, Tanglewood's owner John Greytak and Maronda Homes.

At Wednesday's district meeting the question arose whether NRPI would be able to vote in January its 2,000-plus lots that were offered by the Highlands County Tax Collector's Office as tax certificates when it failed to pay taxes and assessments.

The district requires two things: that the assessments are current on the lots, which they are, because someone else paid them as tax certificates, and secondly, they must own the lots, which NRPI still does, according to Ann Mitchell, district secretary.

The board directed Al Grieshaber, district general manager, to put the question of whether NRPI can vote those lots to its attorney Terry Lewis for a legal opinion.

"I'm very uncomfortable with Mr. Lewis giving an opinion on this," said Miller, explaining Lewis has represented the district on similar landowner issues.

"He has represented the district over the question of the composition of the board of supervisors," said Miller after the meeting. "He's under contract with the district. I don't consider Mr. Lewis an impartial reviewer of this situation.

"The guy's been a hired gun for the district. I wanted someone completely independent and that's not going to happen."

His opponent's comments on voting issues also need to be challenged, Miller wrote.

"Regarding the statement about district urbanization being less than 50 percent, two of the three required urbanization analyses conducted by the district and by the county showed that we were well over 50 percent urbanized and that at least one more popular seat should be added to the board - yet our landowner-elected supervisors voted for the one analysis which kept the three landowner seats intact," he wrote.

"Why? Because they didn't want an election where the votes of small landowners and homeowners like you and me would really count. My opponent was one of those supervisors who voted against the third seat - yet he says he has no agenda."

The election will begin at 9 a.m., on Jan. 23, at the district's Community Center, located at 3500 Edgewater Drive, Sebring, at the next landowner's meeting, at which time nominations will be taken from the floor.

Joe Seelig can be reached at (863) 386-5834 or jseelig@highlandstoday.com .

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