DEP Will Open Sebring Office

SEBRING - The Florida Department of Environmental Protection plans to open a Highlands County office early next year.

The space at 2812 Kenilworth Blvd., the former Christians in Action Center, has already been leased, said spokesman Elijah Fleishauer. The office will be open in January or February.

Seven people, including clerks and specialists, will be hired or moved to Sebring, Fleishauer said. Specialists will work in three DEP areas: waste, water and air.

"We're working on hiring right now," Fleishauer said. Some positions have already been filled.

To fund the Sebring office, the Fort Myers district saved more than 4 percent of its budget last year, and didn't fill positions in that office.

"We used positions in our office to populate an office there," said Fleishauer. "The department is probably saving money by keeping them from having to commute. So it works out better for everybody."

DEP has been attempting to locate in Sebring for more than a year, Fleishauer said. "With budget restrictions and recent cutbacks in all the state budgets, we wanted to make sure we had the money. We probably found that out that we were going to do it two or three months ago."

Developers who want to build in a wetlands need a permit, and people who have complaints about drinking water, illegal disposal of waste or air quality would go to DEP. Instead of driving to the Fort Myers office, an 87-mile trip, people in Glades, Hendry and Highlands counties can save time by coming to Sebring, Fleishauer said.

"We are under heavy regulations by them," said Gary Freeman, utilities manager for the Town of Lake Placid. He envisioned that it may be possible to have more personal meetings with DEP regulators, instead of talking on the telephone.

To check out DEP jobs, go to peoplefirst.myflorida.com.

For more information about DEP, call Eli Fleishauer at 239-332-6975, ext. 175.