Plant City commissioners approved Aug. 25, participation in the Violence Prevention Collaborative, an anti-violence initiative among Hillsborough County offices and municipalities. Plant City will contribute $4,750 annually to this project for the next five years.
The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners began developing the Violence Prevention Collaborative after the 2013 school shootings in Newtown, Ct. The VPC is a long-term plan to make Hillsborough County safer. Board members released the prevention plan, Safe and Sound Hillsborough, earlier this week and will fully launch it this fall.
The plan calls for a shift of thinking: to consider violence as a public health issue and prescribe corresponding treatment. The document outlines three keys to preventing violence: enacting a comprehensive approach to stopping violence; addressing risk and resilience factors; and using strategies that take into account the policies and systems that affect individuals, families and communities.
Plant City has committed to contribute funds from its Special Appropriations, Other Contractual Services budget to the VPC for the next five years, which is the scope of the project’s initial budget.
“I’m sure if it’s a successful program, we’ll see it continue,” said Bill McDaniel, assistant city manager. McDaniel has led Plant City’s participation in the VPC since county commissioners began its development.
McDaniel said Plant City could directly benefit from contributing to the VPC. Throughout the county, including in Plant City, zip codes will be evaluated based on different factors, such as the occurrence domestic violence and poverty. Programs will be launched in high-risk areas accordingly.
CEMETERY CARE
The commission allowed a public hearing regarding the potential deletion of sections 22-23 of the Plant City Code, which established a Perpetual Care Fund for maintenance of local cemeteries.
The initial plan in the code, enacted in fiscal year 2003-2004, was to generate funds for maintenance by acquiring and selling additional property for cemetery use. Soon after, the price of land rose beyond the city’s budget, so no additional land was acquired.
The Perpetual Care Fund would require $10 million, invested at 3.5%, to produce sufficient revenue for the proposed operating budget of $341,300. Because there will be no more land for sale, the amount in the Perpetual Care Fund never would surpass $2.52 million plus interest earning.
Therefore, the commission has proposed to discontinue the Perpetual Care Fund.
Resident George Newman, whose mother-in-law is buried at Shiloh Cemetery, urged commissioners to consider the families who already use the city-maintained cemeteries. He said after Shiloh had left the care of the city and become the responsibility of a commercial company, its aesthetic declined.
“I see tire tracks through the graves, flower pots knocked over,” Newman said. “It’s not the same care. … I say we made a mistake by getting away from perpetual care.”
Vice Mayor Rick Dodson and Commissioner Mark Sparkman were absent from the Aug. 25 meeting. Mayor Rick Lott decided to postpone the vote on the Perpetual Care Fund until the Sept. 8 meeting, when all commissioners will be present.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.
IN OTHER NEWS
• Public hearings regarding the Midtown Redevelopment District have been scheduled for the City Commission meetings on Sept. 8 and Sept. 22.
• The commission granted easement to FDOT to service the newly installed stormwater pond at the City Pistol Range facility. The pond’s construction is part of the Alexander Street Extension Project.
• Caterpillar equipment used for repairs and emergencies in the city has exceeded its life cycle and will be replaced. This includes a steer loader, a wheel loader and a mini hydraulic excavator.