Latest news with #HillsboroughCountyCommission
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hillsborough County votes to create DOGE committee
The Hillsborough County Commission is following Republican leaders across the state and nation by creating a review panel to examine government spending. Hillsborough Commissioners on Wednesday voted to create a county Department of Government Efficiency Liaison Committee, which will serve as an advisory body for the board and county administrator. Commissioners approved having their chairperson send a letter to the governor committing Hillsborough to participate in a similar state process, which is in turn styled after the federal spending review ordered by President Donald Trump commonly called DOGE. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order in February seeking an efficiency review using the same name as the president adopted. The committee approved by Hillsborough commissioners on Wednesday also directs the local effort to follow any future related or amended executive orders. County commissioners will vote later to approve the committee's five members, each of whom must be a resident and registered voter in Hillsborough. Prospective members must also hold a credential in at least one of six areas of focus: accounting, economics, finance, certified auditing, information technology or human resources. The committee can hold monthly meetings for up to a year and will provide monthly updates and then present a final report. The board can vote to approve an extension for the committee. 'I worked closely with the governor and his team on this,' said Commissioner Christine Miller, who proposed the agenda item and said the committee is meant to alleviate some of the board's work. 'They are paying attention to what we're doing here.' Miller's motion passed 6-1, with Commissioner Harry Cohen the singular no. He said he supports identifying waste, fraud and abuse within government, but didn't think creating a committee was necessary. 'I think there already is a DOGE committee, and it's called the Board of County Commissioners,' Cohen said. 'We are the ones that make the spending decisions, and in the past this board has not had any difficulty voting on and making decisions on spending allocations.' Commissioner Gwen Myers also agreed the item was unnecessary. 'Bonnie [Wise] goes above and beyond with her staff to make sure we are always in compliance with everything,' she said, referring to the county administrator. 'It's not needed. We just have to entrust our staff.' Myers ultimately voted to approve the item and confirmed with Wise that she and her staff were able to work with the committee. 'Staff worked closely with Commissioner Miller,' Wise said. 'We are comfortable with this.' The board shut down a proposal last month by Commissioner Joshua Wostal that would have made him the point of contact with the state task force. Wostal said then, and again Wednesday, that his proposal was similar to a role Commissioner Ken Hagan has in negotiating with the Tampa Bay Rays on a possible baseball stadium in Hillsborough. Wostal said since Oct. 1, 2014, when Hagan was commission chairperson, he was appointed to handle negotiations with the Rays as a sole representative of the board. He said that policy is still in place, and commissioners weren't privy to his role, Wostal said. He said Hagan's work with the Rays was a contradiction to the way the board voted last month in denying him the role of DOGE liaison, Wostal said. 'Are we going to go back, if that was truly the issue, and remove this policy from 2014?' Wostal said. 'I think that this is an outrageous breach of trust.' Hagan said Wostal wasn't accurately describing the way his own agenda item was presented last month and was overstating his discussions with the baseball team. 'I'm going to say this one last time, and I'm not going to say it again,' Hagan said, 'I'm not the single point of contact. I'm not the sole representative, and I do not negotiate with the Rays.'
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hillsborough commissioners vote to join state DOGE effort
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Hillsborough County Commission plans to take the next step in participating in the state's effort to audit local governments. Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed an executive order creating a Department of Government Efficiency taskforce. He previously said, 'We're asking the legislature to provide us the ability to send 'DOGE' teams down to county and city governments.' Hillsborough commission proclaims April 3-6 NCAA Women's Final Four Championship Days The newly created group will use technology and AI to look for government waste. The taskforce will audit colleges, universities, state agencies and local governments. Wednesday, Hillsborough County commissioners voted 6-1 to send a letter to the governor agreeing to fully participate and comply in the process. They also voted on the creation of a liaison committee. The committee will help facilitate efforts by the DOGE taskforce. The liaison committee would be made up of five qualified Hillsborough County residents voted on by the board. In March, Commissioner Joshua Wostal proposed expediting the county's audit process. 'Every organization has waste to identify,' he said. 'We had multiple decades of never truly having one forensic audit throughout our processes of budgetary solutions.' Wostal also suggested himself as the point of contact for DOGE. Commissioner Ken Hagan said, 'Personally, I think any contact with officials should be by staff. They are experts.' Ultimately, the commission voted 4-3 against Wostal's proposal. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hillsborough Commissioner wants Legislature to eliminate Sunshine law for county commissioners
Florida welcoming sign via Common Cause Among the list of legislative proposals that the Hillsborough County Commission is asking their state lawmakers to enact this year is a request from one board member to eliminate sunshine laws for county commissioners. Donna Cameron Cepeda, a Republican first elected in 2022, says her proposal is not about reducing transparency in local government, but instead is intended to improve the 'functionality of the decision-making process for commissioners and specific boards.' 'Discussions under the current Sunshine law can hinder effective communication, particularly [for the] Commission on Human Trafficking where sensitive information needs to be handled cautiously,' Cameron Cepeda told the Phoenix in an email message. 'As a dedicated public servant, I value transparency, accountability, and the public's trust in government operations. Florida's Sunshine Law has been instrumental in ensuring openness and preventing corruption. However, certain circumstances call for thoughtful updates to improve efficiency and effectiveness while maintaining the integrity of the public process.' That human trafficking commission is one of the agencies Cameron Cepeda serves on and she says that the ability to discuss strategy is 'crucial.' 'Traffickers actively monitor anti-trafficking efforts, and public discussions can inadvertently expose our plans, jeopardizing their effectiveness,' she said. 'Limited private discussions would allow us to safeguard sensitive information while continuing to uphold our mission to protect the most vulnerable.' Florida has a long history of strong sunshine laws, starting with the Public Records Law in 1909, which says that citizens can see, read, and copy any records the government receives during the course of business unless a state law says the information is private. The Government in the Sunshine Law was adopted in 1967. In 1992, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a public right to access records and meetings. A decade later, as lawmakers were adding exemptions, voters approved another a constitutional amendment making it harder for legislators to approve future exceptions. Ben Wilcox is research director for Integrity Florida, a government watchdog group. He says that, since its inception, there have been attempts to weaken Florida sunshine laws by public officials who would like to operate more in the shadows than in the sunshine. 'More often than not, these public officials try to argue that allowing officials to discuss issues out of public scrutiny would 'improve the functionality of the decision-making process,'' Wilcox said. 'This is code for actually saying, 'Making deals would be easier if we didn't have to do it at a public meeting.' 'These public officials will also seek to justify their desire to operate out of the sunshine by citing sensitive issues like human trafficking and raising security concerns that traffickers will 'monitor' the public discussions and somehow use the information to evade prosecution. Again, this is a red herring. Any action the local government might take regarding human trafficking will still have to come before the body as an agenda item and be subject to full public discussion. Allowing commissioners to discuss public issues in private will only facilitate back-room deal making. 'The overall effect of weakening our Government in the Sunshine Law will be a loss of public confidence in its government. This County Commissioner says she is not 'advocating for secrecy or reduced public oversight,' but in reality that is exactly what she is advocating for.' Harry Cohen, one of two Democrats on the seven-member Hillsborough County Commission, does not support Cameron Cepeda's proposal. 'I am not in favor of elimination of the sunshine law for county commissioners,' he said in a text message. The Phoenix reached out to two Hillsborough County Republican state lawmakers for comment, but neither responded. Other proposals that the Board of County Commissioners are calling for include: Support legislation for flexibility in housing statutes or policies that may allow for local decision-making while fully funding the Live Local Act programs. Oppose high-hazard coastal areas receiving Live Local Act funding. Oppose legislation that would undermine the county point of sale ban on certain fertilizers containing phosphates during the rainy season. Oppose legislation that impedes home rule authority, thereby limiting the ability of local governments to address issues within its jurisdiction in a timely manner.
