Pasadena Golf Club Estates

Dear Members;

We had a re-election for the president – elect position.

The final result is 58 percent Karen Dunbar – 42 percent Suzi Jones.

 

(Background to the recount.  )

“During our General Meeting held on May 1st, candidates for the upcoming year were presented and we encouraged anyone else attending to submit their names for nomination.  We had another resident submit her name for nomination.

After our election, a legal review of our bylaws was performed pertaining to voting requirements and both candidates were consulted.  It is the desire of your PGCE board to insure that our election process is performed in accordance with our existing bylaws and we have decided to allow a second opportunity for you (a member who attended our election meeting) to express your vote.  By limitation, it is in the best interest of our association to never accept proxy votes – it is impossible to assess fraudulent actions and insure authenticity.  There is no mention in our bylaws regarding proxy voting.  In accordance with our bylaws, a maximum of two votes is allowed per household.  It is the intent of our board to bring forth changes that will allow improved guidelines for voting and improve consistency within our bylaws.

Below are the two candidates for President – elect.  Please circle the name of the candidate and place your ballot in the box to assure your privacy.  Thank you.

The Pasadena Golf Club Estates Board

Olivier Cerf and Toni Sturm went to those present at the last General Meeting to conduct the re-election.  Two residents who attended the General Meeting were not current Civic Group Members and therefore not eligible to re-vote.”

What was reported as a break-in on Dolphin Blvd last evening was not a break in after all but a party that got out of hand.  Apparently, the owners of the unoccupied premises allowed a party to be held and it got out of hand.  Neighbors called the police.

If you are planning a large party, please inform your neighbors in advance.  In light of recent criminal activity on the Dolphin Blvd. circle, neighbors are on alert for anything suspicious.

Call the police immediately if you see something suspicious. To report a crime to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office call 582-6200.

Emergencies dial 9-1-1.

Gulfport Police Department             727-893-1030

LOST CAT in our Neighborhood

Snowy White and and gray hair ragdoll cat got out Tuesday night.
If anyone seeing or knows what happened to her call Nancy or Mike at 384-1872

This is what neighbors do.

The PGCE association hired trimmers to do their work then neighbors pitched in on a Saturday morning to load the tree limbs and finish the job. A morning of hard work paid off to beautify the main street of our neighborhood.  Thanks workers! (Click on photos to enlarge)

Success! Your Cost for Fire Protection is Coming Down Next Year.

We are delighted to report that the Pinellas Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously on March 27 to put us on the path to a lower cost fire district.  And this is not just for Pasadena Golf Club Estates – it is for the entire unincorporated area currently served by the South Pasadena Fire Department.  Perseverance paid off!  It took 18 years and much frustration along the way, but change is coming.

The South Pasadena Fire District has consistently been one of the highest cost fire districts in the county.  Our cost has always been much higher than we were told to expect when we passed a referendum to establish this fire district in 1993, and high cost was the basis for our grievance.  South Pasadena Mayor Kathleen Peters acknowledged to the county commissioners that we have been overcharged, and that we deserve a lower cost, but her proposal to cap our millage at 2.5 was too little and too late.

The commissioners evaluated several alternatives to bring our cost down, and they chose to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to put this district out for bid as the fairest way to treat all concerned parties.  The fire protection contract for this area will be awarded to the lowest qualified bidder.  Only three cities – South Pasadena, Gulfport and St. Petersburg – have fire stations near enough to be able to meet the required performance standards for timely response.  We expect all three cites will very likely compete for the lowest cost to serve us.  The county will not accept bids that do not reduce our cost.  All fire departments in Pinellas County have an agreement for mutual aid assistance, so the closest available unit will still respond to a call regardless of city or fire district, and we should see no change in our service regardless of who wins the contract to service this district.

We will not know what our cost will be until the bid process is completed.  An RFP must be prepared, approved, advertised, and time allowed for bids to come back.  The bids will be evaluated to determine the winner, and the contract will then be awarded.  The county staff estimates this process will be completed in July.  The current contract with South Pasadena expires on September 30, 2012, and the new contract should take effect on October 1.  The new cost will be reflected in your next TRIM notice.  We cannot predict what the new cost will be, but we will be surprised if it is not significantly less than the 3.1257 mils ($312.57 per $100,000 of home valuation) you are now paying for fire protection.  The contract will be a five-year agreement with specific controls in place to limit price increases.

District 7 Commissioner Kenneth Welch led the effort to finally get this change approved.  Commissioner Welch has been working with us on this for more than ten years, and he took the lead in December of last year to bring all the parties together to make this change happen.  Commissioners Latvala and Morroni were supportive of this change for many years too, and Commission Chairman Morroni congratulated us on finally getting approval for the change.  Our group stood up and applauded.

Many thanks go to Toni Sturm, Susan Cerf, Suzi Jones, Terri Thee, Kathy Woodward and Karen Dunbar who knocked on doors last December to get 234 signatures on a petition for change.  All those signatures showed the commissioners just how widespread the dissatisfaction was with the cost of our current fire district, and it removed any doubt of the seriousness of our concern.

And we thank Harvey Bernstein, Toni Sturm, Sheila Eveland, Susan Cerf, Karen Dunbar, Bill Phipps and Ed Long for traveling with us to County Commission meetings in Clearwater in recent months to show their support.  We thank Toni for writing those letters to the commissioners.  All of this support helped to solidify our case.

It has been a long journey, but we are nearing the end, and we are very happy to let you know that change is coming, and that your tax bill for fire protection will be lower next year.

It took teamwork, and we thank all of those who helped us to bring about this long sought change.  After eighteen years of trying, we are still pinching ourselves to make sure it actually happened!

Sally and Bill Israel

PGCECG Fire District Committee

This week we heard about a couple of break-ins in our neighborhood.

One neighbor on Dolphin stop by to say that her unoccupied home was forcefully broken into on Saturday evening (03/31/12).  The house is about to undergo renovation.  This is the second time in three weeks we have had some kind of criminal mischief on Dolphin.

If you click on the image below, you can monitor police activity in our area. Just roll over each little icon and see when the incident happened and get some details.

Click on the activity log below and you can see the calls that the Pinellas Sheriff is responding to in real-time.