North
Florida Broadband Authority: Foot dragging, lack of info
cause Suwannee Cnty to call "strike 3" on the NFBA –
They're out
Posted January 3, 2013 04:45 pm | Part XXXII
Suwannee County Commission: file photo, left to right
Com Rick Gambol; Com Jason Bashaw; Attorney Hal Airth;
Chairman Wesley Wainwright, Deputy Clerk Paula
Pennington; Com Clyde Fleming; Com Phil Oxendine; and
County Administrator Randy Harris.
LIVE OAK, FL – Early this afternoon, the Suwannee County Commission voted unanimously to withdraw from the beleaguered North Florida Broadband Authority, after the NFBA squandered the final chance given to it during the December 18th County Commission meeting. The NFBA was taken off the day's agenda when it did not meet the deadline for providing the information that Suwannee County had been requesting for over a month.
According to Casey Stewart, the staff assistant to the Suwannee County Commission, "The NFBA did not provide the material that the board had been requesting. It was received by the County on Friday, December 28th after 4 PM. Some of the commissioners were out of town and did not receive the information until just before the meeting."
Ms. Stewart continued, "I told the NFBA I would put them on the agenda for the January 15th meeting. I guess the board didn't want to wait until the 15th, they wanted to talk about it, now. I think they were offended."
The NFBA tried to play catch-up
In a letter directed to the Suwannee County Commission, dated December 28th, NFBA General Manager, Richelle Sucara, thanked the Commission for the opportunity to appear. It did not mention that she had missed two previous opportunities.
The NFBA did not apologize for the lateness of the material.
Along with her letter, General Manager Sucara also included a rate study dated April 15, 2012. She failed to mention that during the NFBA's December 12th board meeting she announced that she was asking for another rate study.
GM Sucara also included a budget narrative from February 2012. She failed to include any recent financial information. She did include the audit for fiscal year 2010-2011.
The Suwannee County Commission had previously complained that they were not getting up to date information.
The County Commission had enough
Commissioner Phil Oxendine on December 4, 2012. He
listened patiently to the NFBA. On Jan. 3, 2013, he ran
out of patience.
According to Suwannee County resident, Bo Hancock, "At the end of item 11, Additional Agenda Items, were the words "'North Florida Broadband Authority, followed by a question mark.'"
Mr. Hancock said there was no discussion when the item came up.
According to Mr. Hancock, County Administrator, Randy Harris, told the commissioners the County had received some information from the NFBA.
Mr. Hancock said, "And that was it. None of the commissioners discussed it. None of them asked any questions."
Commissioner Phil Oxendine made the motion to withdraw, which was seconded by Commissioner Rick Gambol.
The resolution stated that the "North Florida Broadband Authority is moving in a direction which is contrary to the original stated goals of the member governments... and [the] Board of County Commissioners desires to protect the citizens and assets of Suwannee County from the continued waste, misappropriation and potential liability associated with the North Florida Broadband Authority..."
The motion was unanimous.
