FL DOT, Dist 2, Schedules 12 County Public Workshop 3hrs Before Polls Close on Election Day
Posted November 7, 2016 09:28 am | (1 comment)
North Central Florida – The North Central Florida Planning Council (NCFRPC) is home to the largest regularly scheduled assembly of appointed and elected bureaucrats in North Central Florida. At its October 27, 2016 meeting, DOT District 2's Program Manager, Jamie Driggers, handed out a flyer and announced that on November 8, between 4 and 6 pm, there was a public work shop scheduled to discuss the 12 county 5 year multi-million dollar work program. Only one attendee questioned the propriety of having the workshop, described as an open house, hours before the polls close on Election Day.
An hour into the meeting, DOT's Driggers was introduced by the Council Chairman, Madison County's Rick Davis.
Mr. Driggers introduced himself, "I am Jamie Driggers from the Florida Department of Transportation. I am the Program Manager this year. One of the major sections underneath me is the Work Planning Office, which is the financial arm of the Department of Transportation."
The handout: annotations by the Observer
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Referencing to the handout, distributed before evening's taxpayer sponsored free dinner, he said, "You should see an advertisement. We're going to be introducing our 5 Year Transportation Plan."
Mr. Driggers explained that there were two events coming up. "Scheduled at first will be a workshop here in Lake City at our main office. It will be from 4 to 6 on November 8th."
Scheduled for peak voting time, only one person commented
LJ Johnson (file)
Vietnam Veteran and volunteer member of the Local Transportation for the Disadvantaged Board, LJ Johnson spoke up.
Mr. Johnson asked, "Why did you schedule that for election day?"
There were muffled and not so muffled snickers from the attendees.
DOT Knew There Was a Conflict
Dist. 2 Director Evans (file).
He has history.
Mr. Driggers was not laughing. He commented that DOT knew there was a conflict.
After a pregnant pause, he said, "The first session is truly a workshop -- not -- we understand the tentative conflict there. Beyond that, we have numerous other opportunities. You can come in live and in person if there is a conflict. You also have the website. The 10th will be also an opportunity."
Mr. Driggers explained, "On November 10, from 4 pm to 6 pm the District 2 office in Jacksonville is having a workshop. There are numerous live events throughout the year."
Mr. Johnson followed up, "But why on election day? If someone gets off of work that time of day, the polls are going to be congested. The roads are going to be congested. Why?"
Driggers was silent, as was the assembly of bureaucrats who came from across Dist. 2: Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor, and Union.
Without further ado, Council Chairman Rick Davis moved on to the next speaker.
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