Congratulations to Commissioner Don Bates and one other commissioner for opposing the county asphalt plant. According to the Jan. 26 edition of Highlands Today, if Amendment One passes, Highlands County won't have the money to build roads, including completion of Sebring Parkway. Anyone who has the audacity to approve purchase of an asphalt plant, which will be another albatross like the Sebring Power Plant was, must reside in La La Land. It seems redundant to mention that interest on the $3.3 million loan would likely run $165,000 per year. This plant would be a disgrace in the annals of decision making by county governments. The main benefit from this is our choices for commissioner have been decided for next election. ...more

February 5, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands County commissioners are not pleased with plans to hire three new top administrators at an extra cost of about $300,000 per year. At their meeting today, the five commissioners, three of whom must run for re-election this year, will consider hiring the first division director in the county's history. On Monday, at the county's annual "visioning session," Commissioners Don Bates, Guy Maxcy and Barbara Stewart said they were less than happy with the prospect of what Bates called "adding another layer of administration" to county government. The price tag to do that — adding three employees with the title of "division director" — will be between $190,000 at the low end, to $360,000 per year at the top end of the salary schedules. The county commission had created the new positions last year to increase efficiency. Three new people will be hired, while the fourth position has already gone to Rick Helms, who went from "assistant county administrator" to the new position of "assistant county administrator/director of the division of administrative services." ...more

February 5, 2008

SEBRING — The Highlands County commissioners appear likely to appoint a citizens advisory committee that will advise them on whether to raise or lower impact fees. Commissioner Don Bates brought the idea up for discussion for the first time at the commissioners' Tuesday meeting. No action was taken, but the five county commissioners agreed to discuss it again at their next meeting, Jan. 22. ...more

January 16, 2008

AVON PARK — The national economic disaster that was 2007 also whacked Highlands County's home building industry. According to figures released by Building Official S.Y. Moseley's office, the value of building permits dropped 30 percent last year. About twice as many single family homes were built two years ago, 1,156 in 2006 versus 563 building permits in 2007. It's affecting contractors and their subcontractors, said County Commissioner Don Bates: "There are a lot of guys who are looking for work, who are ready to go to work, and they're out of work." Because they're skilled tradesmen, some are taking lower wages than they were earning in good times, ...more

January 13, 2008

SEBRING — Two Highlands County commissioners, Don Bates and Guy Maxcy, launched negotiations through a designated county spokesman to obtain one acre of prime, white-sand-beach lakefront on troubled Lake Denton. Maxcy and Bates asked Ken Melvin, one of the seven people on the commissioner-appointed Lake Denton Citizens Advisory Committee, to informally negotiate the county's obtaining that one-acre of Lake Denton lakefront with the president and CEO of a fifth-generation Highlands County citrus/ranch family. ...more

January 10, 2008

SEBRING — Don Bates, the Highlands County commissioner who chaired the special Lake Denton Citizens Advisory Committee, admits there still are unanswered questions about the county's closing of public access to the county's most popular lake. ...more

January 2, 2008

SEBRING — By mid-January, Highlands County is likely to become the third county in the state to give county residents serving in the military in combat zones a monthly stipend. The proposed stipend being considered is $75 per month of combat duty. The idea has been pending before the Highlands County commissioners since early November, but is likely to move quickly now that Joseph Dionne, the county's veterans services officer, is ready to make a recommendation. Dionne said Thursday he plans to send to county Attorney Ross Macbeth a proposal for the county to award the $75-per-month stipend to all full-time Highlands County residents currently serving in the military and deployed in what the federal government classifies as combat zones. ...more

December 21, 2007

LAKE PLACID — Seems like everybody is stepping up to the plate and making five new playing fields at Lake June Park and Sports Complex a reality. ...more

December 18, 2007

LAKE PLACID — Eight grove owners north of town have banded together in a bid to trade oranges for homes. At Monday's meeting, a professional urban planner presented town council with preliminary plans that call for the eventual construction of 4,600 homes on 1,500 acres. Ground breaking for the proposed development, which stretches from the railroad bridge northeast to the shores of Lake Apthorpe, and on both sides of U.S. 27, is at least four years away, according to planner Augie Fragala, of Powell, Fragala & Associates Inc. ...more

December 17, 2007

SEBRING –– Public access could be restored to Lake Denton as soon as January, under a plan tentatively adopted by a special seven-member citizens committee. Highlands County commissioners may receive the proposal in December. It calls for restricting access through limited parking, weekend user's fees, and closing the county boat ramp at 4 p.m. daily. During summer weekends, dozens of vehicles carrying scuba divers, swimmers, sunbathers and a few boaters often overflowed the county's parking lot at the lake. Committee members are recommending that parking be limited to only eight spaces. Vehicles parked outside of the designated spaces could be ticketed or towed. ...more

November 16, 2007