County to write final chapter of Peck Sink saga
BROOKSVILLE – County commissioners Tuesday are poised to close the book on the beleaguered Peck Sink Preserve stormwater improvement project off Wiscon Road.
Goodwin Bros. Construction Inc. has submitted the final change order to Hernando County for a final contract price of $1.86 million.
County Commissioner Jim Adkins, opposed to the project from the start, said he remains dubious that the Peck Sink restoration will hold up in another bad storm.
“I’m just hoping we don’t get another tropical storm coming through,” Adkins said. “Any time you mess with Mother Nature, you get problems. So we’ll just wait and see.”
County commissioners awarded the Peck Sink project to Goodwin Bros. in June 2011 for a contracted amount of $1.33 million.
Five change orders later, the price rose to $1.86 million.
Assistant County Administrator for Operations Brian Malmberg said during an earlier interview that this will help improve the quality of water for residents by removing the impurities that go into the underground aquifer. It also should help alleviate the flooding on Wiscon Road and other highways during rainy season.
The site has been graded and swales built on the south and east side of the site. A modified intake debris screening structure was built to help with the water diversion.
Peck Sink is on the agenda for Tuesday’s county commission meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. at the Hernando County Government Center, 20 North Main St. in downtown Brooksville.
Also on the agenda:
County commissioners will discuss continuing the suspension of fees for temporary sign permits, which originally went into effect a year ago and have since been extended.
Staffers said there were 17 permits issued from Nov. 1, 2012, to April 29 for a loss of revenue of $510.
Although the amount of revenue obtained from temporary sign permits is relatively low, code enforcement said they spend a good deal of time administering and enforcing the requirements. The fee for a temporary sign permit is $30.
The county’s performance evaluations and annual appraisal policy was revised to remove merit pay and to update the process of how evaluations will be conducted.
Supervisors and managers will be responsible for evaluating employees in January and February of each calendar year. Self-evaluations will be optional.
In March, evaluations will be completed on the supervisors and managers, and if they have not completed all of their employee evaluations, this will be reflected in their review.
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