At last Thursday’s St Cloud council meeting quite a show was put on by Jarom Fertic, along with some whining by the newly reformed Dirt Dobber boss, Billy Newman.

During discussions over the budget Fertic objected to a 3% raise to city employees and voted against the budget saying employees could have a 2% raise instead. Cooler (and smarter) heads prevailed and the city employees received a 3% raise. City Manager, Tom Hurt, was awarded a 2% raise and immediately donated the entire raise to the summer scholarship programs for Parks & Recreation. The County Manager could take a lead from that!

Dirt Dobber Billy Newman complained that they were forming to force the local and county governments to award contracts to local contractors rather than those winning bids with a lower bid. We pointed out that in the past; Newman had bid on 6 of 14 jobs, and won all 6 jobs in the city of St Cloud. We heard he recently was not awarded another bid and is now crying foul. Our only guess is the taxpayers be damned as long as the local guy gets the work, regardless of price. Unless we can “fix” the bids (wink, wink) .
In the past year staff has approached the Mayor and council with suggestions on dealing with local contractors, however, the council has failed to act on developing any new policy. Also in the wind is talk that the Dirt Dobbers will be putting up a candidate to oppose Councilwoman Mickey Hopper. Guess they still need that third vote?

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First we’d like to inform you that Kissimmee City Commissioner Carlos Irrazarry’s father passed away earlier this week. Our prayers go out to Carlos and his entire family.

It’s been a few days now and still, we’re sorry to say, there’s been no response to our questions posed to Ms Carr at the Osceola Foundation. Many bloggers stated there was no chance of a reply, but hey, we did offer an opportunity which she, and possibly her board, passed on. Meanwhile, many rumors continue about who is investigating who in Osceola County. We do know the Feds have pretty much wrapped their investigation up at OUR jail. Who knows when official results will be in.

Another rumor is there may very well be an investigation going on regarding the TDC, CVB, and expenditures not approved by State Law. We could NOT get any response from the State Attorney’s office as their comments are we don’t discusss if there is, or is not one going on. We’ll see, but no one has been asked specific questions, yet and we do know lots of people want to be spoken to! Hear that Lawson?????

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With the last blog, there were many comments including some from Ms Cathy Carr, an employee at The Osceola Foundation for Education. Her comments prompted some of us to come up with some questions, a few we’ll ask here, as Ms Carr did write she’d like us to have a question/answer session.

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We’re sorry to let you know that Osceola County School Board member, Tom Greer, suffered a heart attack sometime last night and is in critical condition in an area hospital. We’re told he may be facing bypass surgery.
More as we learn it.

Well, we should have known that after the last two blogs emails would be headed our way. All kinds of emails. Enough to make us think, hmmmm, let’s take a closer look at the Foundation. Here now is “OUR” look and opinion of this fast growing insiders group.

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That’s the question of the day, as the Executive Board of the Osceola Foundation meets today to discuss the actions of their board in the past. The layout we’ve been given follows.

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Today’s County Commission meeting was interesting, VERY interesting. The pay raises that were on the “Consent” agenda, were removed by Chairman Shipley and placed on the regular agenda, as they should have been in the first place!

Both Jo Thacker, the County Attorney, and Kathy Wall, the County Auditor displayed more class than anyone has in a very long time when they both requested their contracts with the County be rebewed with no salary increases. Both cited their enjoyment in working at the County level and both expressed a deep level of concern for all County residents as we ALL go through this recession period.

Commissioner Paul Owen stated he was against any raises and proposed the Manager come back in two weeks with a plan of freezing certain higher salaries for a period of up to two years. But then he also stated that he had given his word to the manager that after a year, if the job was done, he’d be given a raise.

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The Kissimmee Police Department has been a busy bunch, making arrests and looking for suspects.

On Wednesday, around 9:15AM a man was approached by 2 dirtbags who robbed him in the stairwell of his apartment on Destiny Drive in the Legacy Apartments. Despite assistance from the Sheriff’s helicopter and KPD K-9 unit, the suspects were not located.

Both are described as black males, about 6′ tall, one is about 165 to 170 pounds, last seen wearing a gray hooded style shirt,black sweatpants, and “shiny house shoes” similar to slippers. The other is a skinny rat, maybe 140 to 160 pounds and last seen wearing a red hooded style shirt with black sleeves,blue jeans,and black sneakers.

If YOU know, or suspect who these idiots are, please call KPD at 407-846-3333 or Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477. Remember, if you see it, or hear about it, report it! It’s your neighborhood.

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