At the Walden Lake Community Association’s annual meeting Thursday, April 9, residents voted for Jan Griffin, Dan Orrico and Dave Sollenberger to fill the three open positions on the board of directors.
Griffin was reelected. Orrico and Sollenberger will take the places of Jim Chancey, who resigned last fall, and Bruce Rodwell, who had served on the board for 20 years.
Sollenberger was the city manager for Plant City from 2002 to 2010, and again as an interim city manager for six months in 2014. During these times, he led the master planning for development in the northeast region of the city, streamlined the development review process and focused on neighborhood revitalization efforts.
Sollenberger has lived in Walden Lake for 12 years. He ran for the board of directors in last year’s WLCA election, but he withdrew because he was serving as city manager at the time and wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.
“I think that Walden Lake has a lot to offer,” Sollenberger said. “I think it’s a very nice community.”
He said he does not think it is a good idea to move forward with the proposed rezoning of The Lakes golf course, because there is no written guarantee that the profits would be reinvested into Walden Lake.
“I like to trust people, but on the other hand, if I’m going to trust somebody, I want to have a firm guarantee that I’m going to get from them what they said they were going to give me,” Sollenberger said. “I know a lot of people believe the pitch that has been made. Maybe it’s true, and maybe it’s not — I don’t know. But there’s a big trust factor, and I just can’t go on trust.”
While he was interim city manager, Sollenberger urged the city to publicly post all documentation related to the golf course, so that any rumors or false information would subside. These documents can now be viewed at PlantCityGov.com/index.aspx?nid=956.
Orrico is a retired U.S. Army Colonel who specialized in organizational transformation, strategic planning, medical operations and staff development throughout his 30-year military career. He has lived in Walden Lake for more than 10 years, and he earned more votes in the election than any other candidate.
“If you want to make change, oftentimes the best way to make change is from within an organization,” Orrico said. “I appreciate the fact that many of the members of the association felt that I had the qualifications and the leadership qualities that were necessary to move the community forward, and I hope to be able to do that with pride and distinction, honesty and integrity.”
Orrico also is against the golf course rezoning.
“I think it will destroy the way of life that we’ve all become accustomed to here in Walden Lake,” Orrico said. “It will increase the traffic, it will cause pressure here on our schools, it will add additional wear and tear to our road system that is already deteriorating … and it will destroy our ecosystem.”
The newly elected directors’ first board meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, April 20, in the clubhouse meeting room.
Votes Per Candidate
Joshua Hall: 67
Blake Meinecke: 73
Robert Rogers: 76
Robert Farkas: 167
Daniel Pinero: 260
Lynn Buehler: 289
Jan Griffin: 293
Dave Sollenberger: 330
Dan Orrico: 356
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.