Looks like Melony has picked up http://www.melonybell.com Currently the site is under construction.  The URL was picked up on 06-09-2009 Melony filed to run for County Commission District 2 as a Republican on the same day as well.  She did use a Florida based company for the development of her site

Heath Whiteaker was the first to file and run for the seat being vacated by term limited Randy Wilkinson.  Whiteaker filed to run as a Republican on 11/26/08 Heath launched his site http://www.heath2010.com on 12/01/08.  His site was developed using a local Polk County company.

Jacki Smith has also filed to run.  Jacki will be running as a Democrat.  She registered to run on 5/29/09 however she registered her URL http://www.jackismith.net on 09/01/08 before she had filed to run.  It is possible that this was the URL she had used previously for her failed attempt against Sam Johnson.  Smith seems to have used a company out of Denver, Colorado for her site development.  One has to wonder why she didn’t choose to go with a Florida or Polk County based web design company.

It seems as though everyone right now is having hard times.  Family’s are scraping by and stopping non-essential spending.  Think about this. About two years ago if you went out to eat the restaurants were packed.   People had to wait at least 20-45 minutes for a seat.  I can’t say that is so anymore.

It does seem that the Government Cities, County, and State still have money to spend.  Our own Polk County Board of County Commissioners is handing out money faster than you can say Lake Weohyakapka.  Let’s recap some of the spending in just the past few months.

• $1 Million to Florida Southern College for a welcome center (for tourist to come look at buildings)
• $1 Million to USF Polytechnic, Money to be used as seed money
• $200,000 for an Off-Road park, Even though the market already determined a need and a private enterprise opened in Lake Wales.
• $1.8 Million Pedestrian Bridge over Highway 60 in Bartow to connect Fort Fraiser trail

Why just these four projects? Easy, these are just the ones that are handy and I know of that I think are frivolous waste.  Don’t get me wrong I think education is important. However the county is facing severe budget issues and they are not taking proactive actions to avoid the consequences.

Right now we need our commissioners to be fiscally responsible.  Not to be “YES” men to everything that comes across the agenda.  The county is facing issues such as laying off employees, forcing them to take furloughs, and pay cuts.

One item that Michael Herr (General Manager) introduced was pay cuts for employees making $100K or more.   No word yet if he will include himself in that pay cut.  You see in just 6 years the Polk County budget has went from $557 Million to $1.7 Billion.  Herr gets paid representative to the budget that he oversees.  So the larger the budget the more he makes.  So he really has no incentive to save county taxpayers money.

I know that persons at The Ledger may twist these words out of context so let me be a straight shooter with you.  I am not against education, recreation or anything else covered in this post.  However I am against WASTEFUL SPENDING & EVER EXPANDING GOVERNMENT!

Thank You.
Heath Whiteaker

County commissioners voted 4-1 todayto commit $1 million to help build a visitor center at Florida Southern College for its collection of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings.

The funding will still depend, however, on developing an agreement between Polk County and the private Lakeland college to ensure the money is spent for a public purpose.

State Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, told commissioners he supports the project, whose plans have been circulated in recent months for support, and he pledged to get marketing money from state tourism funds.

Commission Chairman Sam Johnson, who had to step down from the chair to second the motion, said he had struggled with the request before realizing the historic significance of the Wright buildings and their potential to attract more tourism.

Commissioner Bob English, who moved to approve the money, said the complex will make Polk County more attractive culturally to the faculty that is expected to move to Lakeland in connection with the planned development of the USF Polytechnic campus east of town.

Commissioner Ed Smith, who said he was uncomfortable committing $1 million in tax money when it was still unclear how commissioners are going to deal with the expected $49 million deficit in next year’s county budget, though he says he thinks the visitor center is a worthwhile project.

County Manager Michael Herr has asked county employees to take pay cuts, furloughs and other cost saving measures.  However it seems the county still has money to spend even though they are facing a budget shortfall. If they keep spending like this we are going to have problems similar to California.

County Commissioners just gave the approval on May 20th to buy 200 acres of land to create an Off Road park.  Even though a private off road park was just opened in Lake Wales SEE LINK

Seems as if the county just likes spending tax payers money needlessly.  It is yet another example of ever expanding government.

Portions of this article came from The Ledger

It seems that both sides hotly contest this issue.  However both sides seem to be out for their own personal interests.  Ducks Unlimited thinks that the issue is not allowing them to use the property that was purchased by the county for recreational duck hunting.  Environmentalists groups are opposed to the hunting citing environmental impact and killing of the birds.

I look at this issue this way.  The property was purchased with tax money.  If the county has a problem with people using the property for recreational use maybe it should just get rid of the property.  It seems that this issue has wasted way to much time in agenda meetings.

The county commissioners need to get with it!  If they are not going to allow people to take their dogs for a walk on the trails, allow duck hunting, or nuisance wild boar removal they need to offload the property.  It is not serving the citizens of Polk County if they are not able to use the property for what they want.

I recommend that the county allow a lottery type system with a quota on ducks.  The same way the Avon Park Bombing Range has functioned.  This will allow the county to generate some much-needed revenue and I believe it would allow a compromise

Longtime Fort Meade Commissioner Melony Bell has announced her candidacy for the District 2 County Commission seat in 2010. She is running as a Republican.

Bell, 47, has served on the Fort Meade City Commission, including three years as mayor, for 13 years.

“What I carry from experience with the city can make a great impact for the county,” she said.

Bell said she will formally kick off her campaign Monday at 4 p.m. with a reception at Fort Meade City Hall. Bell, a Winter Haven, native, has lived in Fort Meade most of her life.

She works as a compliance officer and auditor for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, where she has been employed for 28 years.

She said she plans to retire from her state job and devote herself to the commission job full-time if she is elected.

Bell has a degree in business and professional leadership from Southeastern University in Lakeland, which she received in 2008. She and her husband, Robbie, have two adult daughters.

District 2 covers southern Polk County from Lake Wales to Mulberry. She is the second Republican to enter the race. Heath Whiteaker of Lake Wales announced his candidacy in January.

The race has also drawn Democrat Jacki Smith of Kathleen, who said she is planning to move to the district.

The winner of the election will succeed County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson, who is leaving office because of voter-imposed term limits. County commissioners are elected countywide, but must reside in the district they represent while in office. Commissioners serve four-year terms and are paid $41,328 a year.

[Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535. Read more views on county government at http://county.theledger.com.]  ORIGINAL LEDGER POST

It has started again, as it does every few weeks. The questions: “What’s Randy going to run for?” “Hey, do you know what Randy is going to run for?”