Schlabach still causing Citrus County problems

By John Labriola - Citrus County voters thought they had seen the last of former County Commissioner Ruthie Schlabach after her humiliating election loss last year. Sadly for the public, Schlabach is still finding ways to cause problems for the county. 

The latest controversy involves her role as a lobbyist for The Southern Group. Last month, she convinced the commission's current chairwoman Rebecca Bays to nudge County Administrator Steve Howard into secretly signing a $3 million appropriations request to the state legislature to widen County Road 491 on behalf of the lobbying firm's client, Metro Development Group, which has an open application to build a 5,000-unit project along 491 called Tuscany Ranch. 

In an email to Howard, Schlabach asked him to sign the funding request as soon as possible. 

“That way, we can show you the money!” she wrote.

The problem is that the rest of the commission never approved or even knew about the request, a serious breach of protocol, especially considering that the request stated it was "presented to and supported by the Citrus County BOCC at their regular meeting." To make matters worse, The Southern Group's involvement in the deal would have amounted to the county giving tacit approval to Metro's massive development before the fact, and with no public input. 

Apart from violating Florida law, which bars elected officials from lobbying their former boards for two years, Schlabach's sneaky deal also has angered our legislative delegation, potentially costing the county future state dollars.

County Commissioner Diana Finegan was livid about the lack of transparency and made a motion last Tuesday to reject Howard's funding request, which was unanimously approved. 

"This is not doing government right," said Finegan, who came to the meeting with a packet of documents she obtained through public records requests about the issue. "If you did all this and didn't bring it to the board, shame on you."

Commissioner Janet Barek called for firing Howard, but her demand – as well as Finegan's recommendation that a warning be placed in his personnel file – were both rejected. 

Bays and Howard apologized for their actions but denied malicious intent. 

"I messed up. All I can do is apologize," Bays said.

But Finegan wasn't satisfied. She wants an ordinance prohibiting county commissioners and administrative staff from engaging in communications with a developer while a land-use application is pending.

"How can any of us as board members work with a lobbyist of a developer with an open application?" she asked.