County Seat

In reference to the story "Bill Would Divide Court Clerks Duties" as well as the stories about the city's council, the county's sheriff and other related stories, this is my opinion:

Sebring is a city in Highlands County nicknamed "The City on the Circle." Circle Drive, the center of the Sebring Downtown Historic District. Sebring was founded in 1912; it was chartered by the state in 1913 and was selected as the county seat of Highlands County when the county was created in 1921. That should say it all. A county seat is a town or city that is the seat or center of government of a county. Therefore, keep the jail and administrative building for the sheriff near the courthouse.

A county seat is a term for an administrative center or hub for a county. A county seat or parish seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish or city and includes its administration and civil work. Counties, when they grow, also has districts and regional municipalities that break off from the main branch which are effectively different types of county seat extensions that perform county government functions, albeit at limited (district) or expanded (regional municipality) levels. That means keep what we have already in place and expand, not move the county seat, or you'll tear us apart and down.

I'd like to see the roots of this county's seat stay put and that includes the courthouse, the administration of the sheriff, the jail and all of their county seat infrastructure that was set in Sebring from the beginning - and for good reason - and understand the importance of keeping the county seat together as a group, for the city it lives within and its very life.

There is ample room for these services to grow both behind the jail from its doors to the corner of Orange and Center Street and to expand to the city's land to the expressway. I for one, as a long time Sebring resident, disagree with the CRA, the Sebring City Council and the sheriff, who all have a desire to see the county seat moved in some shape or form and disbanded.

Gingerlee Mitchelllindo
Sebring