By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

Osceola County commissioners held a workshop Jan. 14 where they outlined their ideas of the roles of the county manager, commission auditor and attorney as well as themselves and made progress on proving the county’s development rights for Osceola Heritage Park.

Marilyn Crotty, director of the Florida Institute of Government at the University of Central Florida, led the discussion among commissioners on the roles of the county manager, auditor and attorney – whose duties are generally outlined in the county charter.

The board agreed the auditor should independently review all procedures related to county administration and the commission; the county attorney should be responsible for helping the commission make decisions on legal issues; and the county manager should oversee the county’s day-to-day operations. These points will enable the board to determine what qualifications they expect someone in the three offices to have.

“This is really important as the county has interim fillers in several positions,” Crotty said.

Don Fisher replaced Michael Freilinger as county manager after Freilinger was fired April 5 and George Nickerson was appointed interim county attorney. Scarlet Gibson as acting commission auditor after the termination of County Attorney Jo Thacker and Commission Auditor Kathy Wall Dec. 6.

Nickerson said his staff is prepared “to plan its own funeral” based on comments made when Thacker was terminated related to downsizing the county attorney’s office and possibly outsourcing some of the work.

The board will be hiring permanent replacements for Nickerson and Gibson, although a timeframe has not yet been set.

“I’m interested in this county moving forward,” Commissioner Michael Harford, who made the motion to terminate Thacker and Wall, said. “I believe in hiring good people and letting them do their jobs.”

According to the county charter, all three officers are equal in their role in county government, despite comments from Commissioner John Quiñones, who said the county manager is the chief executive officer of the county.

“To me, it’s a three-legged stool and each leg reports to this board,” Commissioner Fred Hawkins Jr., who voted against firing Thacker and Wall, said. “No leg is more important than the other. The stool has to sit level.”

OHP entitlement

The county is attempting to prove its vested rights in Osceola Heritage Park to eliminate any possible $11 million to $19 million bill from the Florida Department of Transportation for infrastructure improvements on and along U.S. Highway 192 in case any expansion of the park is undertaken.

RJ Whidden and Associates, under a consulting contract with the county, spent 400 hours researching historic documents, such as newspaper articles, to justify the county’s vested rights to the Florida Department of Community Affairs.

“No fairgrounds or stadiums in the state has ever gone through a (development of regional impact) review,” John Adams, of RJ Whidden and Associates, said.

Commissioners granted Fisher permission to send a five-inch thick binder filled with  documents to Tallahassee proving the county’s vested rights.

County officials determined they needed to be certain of the county’s development rights as a master plan for Osceola Heritage Park is developed and as options for expansions there are considered.

Vested rights, for example, would determine how much traffic the state would allow the county to dump onto U.S. Highway 192 from events held at the park without requiring significant intersection, signal or lane improvements.