Fruitland Park commissioners stopped short Wednesday night of agreeing to help pay for a school resource officer at the city’s elementary school.
But after a somewhat heated discussion, commissioners did agree to “try to find the money” to partially fund a police officer to serve at Fruitland Park Elementary School for the coming school year.
Diane Kornegay, superintendent of Lake County Schools, asked commissioners to provide the officer in exchange for $40,000 that would be provided by the school district. She said the payment would help offset the cost of providing the officer for the nine-month school year that begins in August.
Kornegay told commissioners that she’s asking for their help to satisfy requirements of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which was signed into law following the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland that left 17 people dead. She said school districts have three options for providing security officers in schools this year: using certified school resource officers, forming their own police force or using “guardians” who have received 132 hours of training from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and undergone several background screenings.
Commissioner Rick Ranize, who retired from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and served as a training coordinator for nine years, said he is definitely in favor of having a Fruitland Park officer in the elementary school. And he added that he doesn’t think the amount of training guardians receive is sufficient.
“Anybody that’s in our city is protected by our police department,” he said. “It is my strong belief that we need a Fruitland Park officer in Fruitland Park Elementary.”
Ranize added that helping to fund a school resource officer is a minimal expense for the city.
“In the last two years, we’ve collected well over a million and a half dollars in income from ad valorem taxes,” he said. “I think it’s a win situation for the city, for the residents and anybody that sends their kids here.”
Commissioner Ray Lewis asked Kornegay why she is in favor of certified officers over guardians, who cost much less money to train.
“I don’t think when we are talking about our children that cheaper is better,” she said. “It is worth the investment to provide a certified officer that your chief has vetted and trained and is part of this community, because these are your kids. They’re our kids.”
Fruitland Park Chief Michael Fewless agreed.
“If there’s going to be a law enforcement officer at that school, I want it to be a Fruitland Park Police officer,” he said. “We’re tied into that school. It’s our community and I think we should be ones protecting that school.”
Mayor Chris Cheshire said he’s not happy that the commission is being asked to help fund the resource officer.
“I don’t like the fact that the buck has been passed from the state to the county, from the county to sheriff, and the sheriff to us,” he said, adding that he understands Kornegay has few choices expect to ask for help from local cities. “The only thing way we can pay this is from our general fund, which is always difficult. And frankly, the state should pay for this.”
Eventually, the 45-minute discussion turned to the city’s budget and millage rate, which will be discussed in meetings next month. City Manager Gary La Venia has made it known that this year’s budget is “tight.”
Cheshire said he isn’t willing to raise the millage rate to pay for the officer. He pointed out to Lewis that his instance at lowering the millage rate several years ago when The Villages started building homes in Fruitland Park has now come back to the bite the city.
“The only way for us to get more general fund (money) is through growth,” he said. “We need to grow this city. Raising the millage rate is not the answer. We have to deal with what we have right now.”
Ranize disagreed, adding that the city is seeing new growth every month. And he said there’s plenty of ways to find the money to pay for the officer in the budget.
“We have $240,000 we’re going to pay the town of Lady Lake to take our sewage and we can’t put a school resource officer in that school?” he exclaimed loudly. “Raise the millage rate! It’s simple.”
Eventually, the commission voted to try to find the funding and said they’d get back to Kornegay when they had an answer. She told them that time is of the essence, as school starts Aug. 13. And she added that if the funding isn’t provided for the resource officer, a guardian will be assigned to Fruitland Park Elementary.
