HomeMy WebLinkAbout705-15 Opposing SWFWMD move RESOLUTION NO. 705-15
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
ZEPHYRHILLS, FLORIDA EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO THE
MOVING OF THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT
DISTRICT'S HEADQUARTERS.
WHEREAS, on May 19, 2015, the Southwest Florida Water Management District
(District), without prior notice to any city or county government within the District, announced
its plan to move the officially designated Headquarters of the District from the Brooksville-
Tampa Bay Regional Airport in Hernando County to Tampa, Florida; and,
WHEREAS, the statutorily mandated resource management responsibilities of the
District have been successfully and effectively carried out at its Brooksville Headquarters in
Hernando County and three field offices located in the cities of Tampa, Bartow and Sarasota for
over 50 years; and,
WHEREAS, the location of the Headquarters of the Southwest Florida Water
Management District at the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport represents a substantial
and significant investment of public financial resources of at least $10 million in the office
buildings, 37 acres of improvements and infrastructure; and,
WHEREAS, no in-depth accurate analysis of all the costs and benefits associated with
such a move of personnel and correspondent construction of new facilities has been completed
that would justify the abandonment of an existing 50,000 square foot, four-story, multi-million
dollar, state of the art facility and construction of a new facility that will do nothing more than
replace the space being abandoned; and,
WHEREAS, moving the Headquarters to Tampa and the related loss of a substantial
employee payroll base will have a substantial and compounding annual economic impact upon
counties and cities in northern areas of the District; and,
WHEREAS, the District's water resource challenges are significant, urgent and district-
wide and moving the Headquarters to Tampa will provide no identifiable advantage to resolving
them; and,
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
ZEPHYRHILLS,FLORIDA:
SECTION 1: The Governing Board of the Southwest Florida Water Management
District is hereby strongly urged to maintain its official Headquarters at its existing Brooksville
office located at 2379 Broad Street, Brooksville, Florida now and into the future; and,
SECTION 2: That the Governing Board of the Southwest Florida Water Management
District maintain at its Headquarters a proportionate overall level of District staff resources that
will effectively serve the water resource management needs of the northern region of the District,
that will provide all centralized functions of the District for the remaining parts of the 16-county
District area, and which fully demonstrates that the Brooksville office is the functioning official
Headquarters of the Southwest Florida Water Management District; and,
SECTION 3: That the District re-establish the full complement of District services,
functions and purposes that were located at the existing District Brooksville Headquarters before
2010.
SECTION 4: Copies of this Resolution shall be provided to all members of the District
Governing Board, the Governor, Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, all members of
the District's Legislative Delegation and other delegations that may have interest in this matter.
SECTION 5: This Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its adoption.
ADOPTED in Regular Session this 13th day of July, 2015, by the City Council of the
City of Zephyrhills, Florida.
1
No Text
Attes . I
Linda D. Bo , City Clerk a eth M. Burgess, r. C ci President
ne Whitfield, M or
APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LE L SUFFICIENCY:
Joseph A. Poblick, City Attorney
2