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Escambia Children’s Trust Board Can’t Vote Until Governor Appoints Five More Members
February 24, 2021
The current members of Escambia Children’s Trust are unable to vote or make any decisions until the remainder of their board is appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Last November, voters approved the formation of the Children’s Trust to be funded by an increase in ad valorem taxes of up to a maximum of 0.5 mil. The trust will provide early childhood education, safety, developmental, preventative, health, and well-being services, including after school and summer enrichment programs.
Five members were appointed to the board to fill positions as mandated by state law — Escambia County School Board member Patty Hightower, Department of Children and Families Northwest Region Managing Director Walter Sachs, Circuit Judge Jennifer Frydrychowicz, Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May and Escambia County School District Superintendent Dr. Tim Smith.
The Escambia County Commission is expected to the names of other nominees for five additional seats to the governor’s office by the end of this week, according to County Administrator Janice Gilley. DeSantis is due to make his selections within 45 days.
The five current members of the Children’s Trust held a public meeting Monday night, but they received legal advice to take no actions without a full 10-member board.
The board can’t hire its own attorney at this point, since it’s unable to vote, but the Escambia County Commission has offered the use of county staff members.
“The statute itself that sets up the Children’s Services Trust talks about all the things you all have to do as you are talking and working through,” Rogers said. “And they all talk about doing those things immediately after the appointment of ‘the members’, not of some of the members, not a functioning group of members, not of half the members, not of the de facto members. It says the members.”
“So to me, if you put all three of those factors together,” Rogers said, before pausing. “Maybe a better idea might be to wait and see what the governor does.”
“We want to be legal; we want to do it in full sunshine. We want to be as transparent as possible because what we put in place needs to work, and it needs to be a viable process,” said Hightower (pictured top), board chairperson. “We are all anxious to be able to get funds into the hands of our community. We know that there is a lot of need out there, and there are a lot of people that are suffering. We don’t want to do it incorrectly. We want to make sure that what we do is in the best interest of all concerned.”
The Children’s Trust board is facing a time crunch to meet a July 1 deadline to set a millage rate. If that deadline is missed, they won’t be able to collect any tax dollars until 2022.
“Let’s move this forward as quickly as possible, but I’m not going to be politically pushed into a corner by anybody that says well we’ve got to do it ASAP,” said May. “Poverty, delinquency, has existed for the last 30 years. So if it takes another three or four months to get it right, they we ought to get it right.”
“You can’t go back if you don’t start with a solid foundation,” May added.
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Escambia Children's Trust Board Can't Vote Until Governor Appoints Five More Members - NorthEscambia.com
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