ST. PETERSBURG - The next Pinellas administrator might be required to live in the county, and that could pose a problem for the husband of Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. Mark Woodard, an assistant county administrator in Pinellas, is among four finalists chosen by county commissioners Tuesday for the top administrative post. ...more

July 2, 2008

After numerous delays, the first fire station in the Trinity area is taking shape on Trinity Boulevard about a quarter mile east of State Road 54. ...more

June 29, 2008

First the bad news: The moribund housing industry has put a major crimp in Pasco County's road-building plans. ...more

June 29, 2008

TRINITY - Where's the fire? After numerous delays, the first fire station in the Trinity area is taking shape on Trinity Boulevard about a quarter mile east of S.R. 54. Crews could complete the project by spring 2009, county officials report. ...more

June 25, 2008

TRINITY - While a long-delayed fire station is under construction in Trinity, county officials pretty much have closed the book on building a Trinity library branch anytime soon. A library project in the booming area of Trinity looked like it might take off in 2005 with a state grant for more than $430,000. At one time there was talk of co-locating a Trinity fire station with a library and passive park, Dan Johnson, Pasco's assistant county administrator for public services, recalled. ...more

June 25, 2008

SEBRING — The formal legal process for the appeals of two county employees for exchanging inappropriate and often sexually explicit instant-messages will begin in six days, on Monday. Jim McCollum, the attorney for ex-county employees Jared Lee and Treasa Handley, will take sworn statements, recorded verbatim by a legal stenographer, from four people, starting at 9 a.m. in a conference room at the Highlands County Government Center. Handley and Lee were dismissed more than five months ago for sending thousands of personal instant messages to each other, and others, on their county computers during working hours. Many of the messages were sexually explicit, and all of them are public record, accessible to anyone, with a request to either the county's public information officer or the Highlands County Clerk of Courts office. ...more

June 16, 2008

SEBRING – The appeals of the firings of ex-county employees Treasa Handley and Jarod Lee will be heard by new Highlands County Administrator Michael Wright. But the informal hearing process won't be scheduled until after Handley's and Lee's attorney takes depositions from at least four and possibly more county employees. Attorney Jim McCollum, representing the two Office of Management and Budget employees who were fired for sending thousands of personal and inappropriate instant messages on their county computers, has not yet requested a hearing date. Their firings go back more than three months, but McCollum is not rushing to schedule the appeals hearing in front of Wright. Before any hearing is scheduled, McCollum said, he needs to get sworn statements in depositions from several high-ranking county managers and from one ex-county employee, Carl Cool. ...more

June 6, 2008

Five days into hurricane season, plans were back on track Thursday for a $7.6 million regional storm shelter and health care clinic in west Pasco, although a second new shelter in Wesley Chapel has been put on hold. ...more

June 6, 2008

Bill Munz, a former top administrator who guided county growth during a critical decade, died Sunday of liver cancer. He was 56. ...more

June 3, 2008

SEBRING – Just three months ago, Highlands County's gain of Mandy Hines as the new director of the housing department was Desoto County government's loss. This week, though, DeSoto County turned the tables on Highlands and hired Hines back. On Monday, Hines told her boss, Jim Polatty, director of development services, that she will be leaving to accept a job with DeSoto County. Hines, who has not yet submitted a letter of resignation, is leaving her job here to return home and accept a higher-level, higher-paying job, Polatty said. ...more

May 20, 2008