The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office has reportedly secured new grant money and will use a portion of it to step up traffic enforcement on Morse Boulevard.
Property Owners Association President Cliff Wiener revealed at Friday morning’s Community Development District 1 Board of Supervisors meeting that Under Sheriff Pat Breeden told him about the new grant money.
Wiener said the money will pay for two deputies whose primary responsibility will be traffic enforcement on Morse Bouelvard, north of County Road 466.
“I think it’s a positive step,” Wiener said.
Wiener also said that the under sheriff told him that in 26 days in November, 40 tickets were written on that section of Morse Boulevard and 34 warnings were issued.
CDD 1 supervisors believed the problem on the roadway had gotten so bad that they commissioned their own study seeking potential solutions. However, Sumter County officials initially dismissed the study, which proposed costly solutions well beyond the financial reach of CDD 1.
The road is owned by Sumter County.
Supervisor Kathy Porter expressed her frustration with the county, including officials’ refusal to admit the problem on Morse Boulevard.
“They are digging in their heels,” Porter said.
Supervisor Ellen Cora, who has been a longtime proponent of the need to address the traffic situation on Morse Boulevard, remembered a famous showdown with the county commission.
“It’s been going on for more than 12 years. Sumter County turned their backs on us literally and figuratively,” Cora said.
In that infamous incident, commissioners turned their chairs around and put their backs to the audience, who had appealed to them for action on Morse Boulevard.
The supervisors were happy to hear the good news about the sheriff’s office’s stepped up enforcement on Morse Boulevard.
The sheriff’s office indicated that full details of the grant will be announced in January.
