Pam Feagle Taylor County, FL. District 4 Comm.

07/10/2023

Roll off issues continue to be a problem despite my many and frequent efforts to work with administration to find solutions. This reluctance to properly address the issues is unacceptable and the board must step up to help identify better ways to fix the problems. I am working toward a solution. I am very sorry for the inconvenience that is caused when a roll off is not open as scheduled and when some attendants offer no assistance to the customer. This does NOT apply to all attendants as we have some that are very conscientious and good employees.

07/08/2023

This is one of my FYI’s:

Taylor County government is structurally set up with a County Administrator and Assistant Administrator instead of a county manager or county coordinator. This means that the co admin is in full charge of the day to day operations and that person also does all of the hiring, firing and employee discipline, unlike previously under the coordinator system when the board assumed that responsibility I’m told. This was the system in place when I was elected to office. I can only assume that it was changed from coordinator to administrator to keep the politics out of it or it was changed to put a “buddy” in for a favor, who knows.

So you may ask then, what does the board do? We are officially the policy makers which entails many many responsibilities. In addition, the only county employees who the board directly hires, fires and directs is the county administrator and county attorney. This means a board member can not tell the administrator who to hire, terminate or discipline when the job doesn’t get done or not properly done, but we can hold the co administrator responsible. A board member is also not supposed to call or request an employee to do a task, such as go take care of a road issue.

As I have said many times, if you have an issue with animal control, road department, mosquito control, roll offs, parks and recreation or any other issue, feel free to call me anytime at 850-838-7323.

Remember, I am hired by you and I work for you. I take my job and responsibilities very seriously.

Thank you for allowing me to work for you.

05/24/2023

01/23/2023

You are invited to the Board of County Commission workshop meeting tomorrow, Jan 24 @ 6pm as we discuss volunteer firefighters (and more.) All meetings are held at the Administrative Complex downtown (old post office).

I am taking the lead in trying to re-establish our volunteer firefighter program. We need volunteers who are willing to dedicate their time and energy to help our community. Volunteers save your lives, homes, property, memories and certainly they save the county tax payers money.

The state requirements for a volunteer firefighter are:

• 206 hrs of classroom training
• 16 hrs vehicle driving
• 40 hrs medical first responder
• Obtain certification after finishing the requirements

We have to follow state rules but my goal is to identify ways that will enable potential volunteers to complete the training and still maintain your regular job. Other than the fact that we can’t change the state rules, your input matters and is welcome.

Thank you for allowing me to represent you on the Taylor County Board of Commission. It is my great honor.

Pam Feagle, Republican
850-838-7323
[email protected]

08/22/2022

Good morning,
I just want to remind everyone that the election is tomorrow Tues Aug 23. The winner will be decided, we will not be going to the general election in Nov.

I am honored to serve as your co commissioner and look forward to another 4 years. We will be at the 3 precincts, Shady Grove, Johnson Stripling Rd Fire Station and the First Methodist Chuch downtown throughout the day waving signs. If you would like to join us at any of those locations for any part of the day just come on. We will have an extra sign for you.

Thank you so much for your support.

God Bless you all.

08/17/2022

Look at this sweet couple! ❤️

08/14/2022

Today is Sunday and started out with church, a good home cooked lunch and a very lazy afternoon. We are going into the LAST WEEK before the election on Aug 23, which is Tuesday week.

EARLY VOTING is going on now through next Sunday 8-5 at the Sup of Elections office on Hwy 19 next to the hospital. You can take advantage of early voting and avoid the hassle and possibility of bad weather if you so choose. I personally think it is so convenient both time wise and the fact you can drive right up to the front door.
You may be one of the ones who like to vote on election day and that is fine too.

Main thing, please go vote. Don’t assume that just because I’ve been in office for a long time and everybody knows me and the good job I’ve done that I will automatically win this election. It takes your support and vote.

Please remind your family and friends to go vote. Typically there is a lower voter turnout at these midterm elections.

I have kept my campaign clean, honest and above board. You will never see or hear me on fb or anywhere else disrespect, dishonor, slam, misrepresent and even lie about an opponent. That is just not how I operate. If I win this election it will be because of my record of hard work with results and not because of a dirty campaign. I stand by and live by honesty and integrity.

Thank you all so much and God Bless

08/08/2022

Countdown to election…..17 days

Early voting begins tomorrow Mon Aug 8 and continues through Sun Aug 21 and then the election is Tues Aug 23.

This has been another exciting election period. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing and talking with so many of you and sharing all my accomplishments that have made Ta Co a better place to live, work and play.

We have mostly worked through the ‘22-‘23 budget recently. We were able to keep the mileage rate the same although you may see an increase in your property taxes only because the value of property has risen, we balanced the budget and our county employees will see $1/hr raises. We are always happy when that happens. Sadly there have been some times when we could not afford to give raises so we gave year end bonuses instead. Some were very handsome and some were meager but we did the best we could. I always treat the taxpayers money responsibly the same as we do at home e.i. You never spend more than you take in and you keep a reserve for those hard times. That keeps you out of bankruptcy at the county level and at home.

Back in June in one of my posts I said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Then again in one of my newspaper ads I repeated it again. I’m gonna say it again, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I can positively attest that there is nothing broke and there is no need for any change.

I am the hometown, responsible, honest and hard working candidate that gets results. I have always represented my district and my people well. I have always responded to every citizen request, no matter who you are or where you live.

I intend to keep doing what I’ve always done: put the goals and well being of our community first, speak the truth and follow through on my commitments.

God Bless you all and God Bless the USA!

08/06/2022

ELECTION——-17 DAYS AWAY

This election for District 4 County Commission will be determined on Aug 23, it will not go on until November.

Early voting begins this coming Monday Aug 8 and continues through Saturday Aug 21. You can stop by the Sup of Elections office on Hwy 19 next to the hospital and vote between 8-5 on those days mentioned.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all the support you have given to me. And thank you for trusting and believing in me for the past 12 years that I have been blessed to represent you in county government.

I have tenaciously worked hard and I can say that I’ve done the very best job that I could. I thank y’all for your patience when sometimes it takes a little longer for things to get done. I also thank our county staff for being even more patient when I’m impatient jumping up and down about why my requests weren’t done yesterday.

My achievements for Ta Co speak for themselves. I will detail those again soon in another post. I am the candidate with experience and proven leadership that will continue to serve with honesty and dignity. I have lead this county through good and bad, thick and thin. I have always and will continue to stand up for what is right and stand firm against what is wrong. You can count on me!

08/02/2022

Good morning everyone,
I am so proud of my hometown community and so happy that I chose to stay here for a lifetime, marry a wonderful man, work and raise my children here. We have so many things right here at home to be so thankful for. I look at our rivers, coast, farms, woods, caring people, leaders…this IS the best place to live and raise a family.

I spent 4 years as a member of the City Council of Perry and achieved many things while there. After I retired from working at the hospital for nearly 30 years, I ran for and won my seat on the County Commission. I have considered it my job and have worked very hard just as I did on my other jobs.

I always try to do more, not less, and I always have a project to move Ta Co forward. Some of my projects have been: Veterans Memorial Park and Memorial Day Ceremony, renovation of Forest Capital Hall, building the Shady Grove Community Center, naming bridges after Veterans and the list goes on. Currently I am spearheading the complete renovation of Hodges Park at Keaton Beach. There will always be a new project and I will always keep working hard for my community.

I have kept my campaign positive and clean and focused on the real issues we face as a community. Only talking about and bashing an opponent gets you nowhere except in the losers bracket.

I am a County Commissioner and candidate for re-election who has worked hard and accomplished positive results.

I have the experience and leadership to best move us forward. Thank you for trusting me to represent you.

08/01/2022

Let’s talk Solid Waste…..

I want to preface this article by saying that I am not blaming or throwing any staff member or employee under the bus. That is not my intent. I, and I’m quite sure other commissioners, have received phone calls about what is going on.

This department has had issues for years e.g. dumping by people who are not qualified to dump because they live out of town or live in the city, C&D (construction & demolition), people living full time in a RV or shed who pay zero and the people who do not properly separate their yard and household trash, people going into the bins after hours to steal metal, falling into the bins and getting hurt, cutting the fences, to name a few.

Several years ago the decision was made to only charge hunting camps (campers) a portion of the solid waste assessment since most hunters only use the camps during hunting season. That was fine until we started to have an extremely high number of people living full time in RVs and sheds.

I believe if someone is living full time in anything that they should pay the full assessment. I also believe if you own a hunting camp in addition to a home where you pay the full assessment and you only use the camp during hunting season that you should not have to pay the full amount.

After many discussions about how to get a handle on the cost of solid waste exceeding the revenue and comparing Taylor County assessments with other counties, a consultant group was hired under advice from the county attorney to bring back an opinion so if there was a legal challenge we could defend it. They did not determine how many RVs/sheds were being lived in full time or C&D issues. I did ask them before they were hired if that was part of their evaluation and they said no and that is the reason I opposed hiring them.

Their conclusion was options for raising the fees and require everyone to pay the full amount, including all dwellings and hunting camps. I am steadfastly against raising the fees on hunting camps period. I am also against raising fees until we do a root cause analysis as to what is causing the solid waste department to loose money and to put measures in place to fix the problems, not just raise fees. Granted, there has been a huge rise in the cost of fuel, materials and labor, this is out of our control. But, I do not believe we should put a bandaid on the issue and take
the easier way by substantially raising fees.

07/21/2022

Let’s talk county budget-

This time every year the BOCC (Board of County Commission) is busy working through the next years budget. It is a very arduous process and involves many working pieces, sorta like a jig saw puzzle. We are tasked by the state to pass a balanced budget.

Our Clerk of the Court, Finance Director and County Administrator work long hours well before the BOCC receives a copy of the proposed budget. After it is received by the board, each department, each constitutional officer and others present their individual budgets or requests. We then go through the process to determine what we can or cannot afford keeping in mind that certain services are mandatory.

Two things have happened for the past 2 years. We have been fortunate that property values have increased and brought in additional revenue but unfortunately inflation has sky rocketed and took what otherwise would have been extra revenue. We are forced to increase the budget to cover expenses for next year, especially fuel. We also have a state mandate to raise the hourly wage to $15/hr. We started last year by giving $1/hr raises and we are doing the same this year and every year for a total of 5 years as part of that mandate put in place by the voters of Fl. Keep in mind that as the hourly rate increases so does retirement and other employee costs and that $1 becomes much more.

Since I have been a county commissioner we have never raised the mileage rate. Your tax bill has increased because your property’s value increased. We see that when looking at the high prices home sales have brought. We’ve been riding a high wave but it will fall again as mortgage rates increase. However, these wage increases and other expenses will continue to be recurring and we will have to fund them. We have worked very hard to keep from RAISING the mileage rate and made many cuts in our departments. We have vacant positions that we are NOT filing because we simply can’t afford to. We have equipment that needs to be replaced but we can’t afford to do so.

So, when the time comes that property values decrease, depreciation gets higher and recurring expenses escalate, don’t let any candidate convince you that they will cut your taxes.

Unless you have been involved with the county budget process, you may not understand it’s complexity. We try hard to keep the mileage rate the same, provide the essential services and last but not least, to give our employees as many annual salary increases as possible and provide them with excellent benefits.

I have always treated the county budget the same as we do our budget at home. You don’t spend more than you take in and you maintain a healthy reserve so when those hard times come along you are prepared. That is simply being responsible.

Thank you all so much for allowing me to represent you at the local level. It is my great honor and privilege. Please vote for me so that I can continue to lead Ta Co with integrity and hard work to move us forward in a positive fashion. God bless you all.