The Village Center Community Development District Board of Supervisors gaveled into session an hour late Wednesday, but did so in time to deliver a promised raise to firefighters.
The meeting was set to begin at 3:30 p.m. at Savannah Center, but only two of the five board members were in attendance, Chairwoman Kelly Flores, who works for The Villages Technology Solutions Group and Supervisor Robert Chandler IV, who is the vice president of development for The Villages. Without a quorum, the most powerful government board in The Villages could not conduct its business.
Rescheduling such a meeting is not easy. Coordination of schedules and securing a meeting room are part of the challenge, but providing the legally required public notice, by publishing an advertisement in The Villages Daily Sun, is a tough hurdle when trying to quickly reschedule a government meeting.
A flurry of phone calls produced the arrival of Supervisor Peter Evans, who works for The Villages as director of Family Investments and Projects. Supervisor Chandler noted that Evans had previously secured an excused absence from the meeting, but abruptly shuffled his schedule to make a hurried trip to Savannah Center.
The board acted on an important budget resolution to provide for an 11 percent pay raise for members of The Villages Public Safety Department.
In addition, District Manager Kenny Blocker announced that the Sumter County Commission is expected to render a decision Tuesday with regard to the five proposed members of the dependent district board to oversee The Villages Public Safety Department.
