Understanding the current County Manager is important. In fact, it’s a MUST for anyone remotely interested in how our county is being managed.
Plain and simple, the current manager has no experience so he takes the most uneducated guess he can come up with, mixes it with his total lack of care,(not only for employees and their families, but also the entire county), protects HIS salary by playing word games, and makes decisions which leaves even the brightest scholars scratching their heads.

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Now, we’ll explain how we came up with this.
Not too long ago, the County Chairman (we’ll call him Q) called for a review of salaries over $100,000.00 yearly. Q’s mistake, along with the other Commissioners, was not being specific in exactly what was wanted. We know this because of a statement ALLEGEDLY made. It was “they asked for a “review” and they’ll get one". Admittedly, we did NOT hear it ourselves, nor can we obtain any volunteers to come forward, so it remains NON factual and a rumor.
In the meantime, while the alleged review was supposedly being conducted, others at the manager’s call were reviewing employees making $60,000.00 yearly, no matter how many years they’ve been employed at the county! To get it straight, seniority means nothing to this manager. Your experience as a valued employee means nothing. Actually, as other FORMER employees have learned, no employee has meaning or value when it comes to this guy’s thinking, as dumb as it may sound. He has supported our thoughts by his own actions.
Taxpayers who have asked that tthose making $100k and over to take a cut will NOT get their wish. Nope. Two current commissioners have gone as far as to tell the manager who they would like to see either moved, or terminated, despite the county charter citing this as interference with the day to day activity of the county’s operation. While this county had, at one time, made progress, moving forward and leaving the past behind, it appears we are once again travelling backwards, and that is one big shame! The reward for being a loyal employee for 25 or 30 years and EARNING your way to your current salary? A kick in the seat and told you take a 15% pay cut OR you’re fired. Fired for what, you ask? Doesn’t matter. This man is sick, his actions have proved that and he needs to be stopped before even more employees and their families are hurt! This Osceola County Commission MUST take action BEFORE Mr. Freilinger makes even more costly mistakes! Bringing in new employees at higher salaries, then telling the more experienced they need a cut or be gone is just WRONG. PLEASE, Commissioners, stop this nonsense before it’s too late!

This next item was in this blog a couple years ago, written by others but seems appropriate, in light of the jail guard who was just charged with assisting an inmate to escape.
The corrections department has had their own personnel person for a long time. Too long, in fact. We do not know if she is still there but we do know who hired this C.O. who recently was arrested. It’s the same person who had a pet in her office many times. This ex-C.O. had been arrested in 1996 and jailed in Orange County. The case was dropped, however, the fact that she had been in jail on charges of aggravated assault, speaks volumes in how NOT to conduct a background check! Possibly, the county decided not to hold it against the woman since the charges had been dropped but doesn’t that raise any flags of concern?
While we know the Director of H.R. is training on our time until he gets his degree, surely there must be someone within the county to review this and deal with it before it could possibly happen again? Who knows who else is working as a C.O. who shouldn’t be?
Also, what about the risk to those good C.O.’s who put their lives on the line and now have to be concerned what nutballs this HR person brought in to work alongside them. Not fair to them, and not fair to the taxpayers who are placed at risk because of this H.R. person’s shoddy work. When will she be reviewed?

It sure has been nice of the Sheriff’s Office to lend a hand to the other Constitutional Officers. In fact, we even like a couple of them. But we must ask, who pays for the services being rendered by the Sheriff’s Office PIO when they are sending out messeges from the other Constitutional Officers? We hate to assume anything so we’re just asking if they’re doing the right thing. Our sheriff’s budget is already very tight and the other constitutional officers seem to have some working room in theirs. We’d suggest they consider some of those employees getting screwed by the County Manager and give them the duties of your own PIO!

Believe it or not, there’s still some grumbling about St. Cloud’s recent approval to purchase the old Com-Tech building. While we believed it was a good deal for the city today, and in its’ future, there are some who don’t agree, including one developer who wanted to sell the city a tin building, or something like that.
The above ground gas tanks are standard tanks that are found in many, many locations. Traffic is not going to be any more impacted than it already is because of the new inlet the city and hospital have agree to have constructed. The argument about not having that planned “medical city” is news to many in St.Cloud since there was never any official discussion regarding a medical city, with exception to the one at Lake Nona when the widening of highway 15 was discussed. We have yet to be given a sound argument to kill the deal, which is already near completion. You may not agree with everything your locally elected officials do, but to sound off AFTER it’s voted on is a bit little and a bit too late.

*Special note to the two commissioners singling out employees to be either transferred or terminated. People are watching, and they’re waiting. If others know about your conversations what do you think would be stated under oath? The current plan is a mistake and you should really reconsider.

God Bless everyone and God Bless America! Be healthy, and always be safe. Enjoy this 4th of July and if you want fireworks, go out to watch the professionals set them off and not the neighborhood kids. Keep them safe too.