By Gary Nager and Matt Wiley
Although I had never formally met Pasco County administrator Michele Baker before my January 8 Wesley Chapel (Noon) Rotary Club meeting at Ciao! Italian Bistro in the Shops at Wiregrass mall, I actually had two opportunities to hear the former longtime assistant to former administrator John Gallagher speak in two days.
At the Rotary Club meeting, Baker, who replaced Gallagher (first as interim administrator, later taking the top job) in June 2013, was talking about the new printed Strategic Plan 2013-17 (for more info, visit PascoCountyFL.net).
She and the county staff prepared. The printed material was informative, but the plan didn’t offer specifics as to what changes we could expect to see in the year(s) to come in Wesley Chapel.
So, of course, I had to ask — what is on the horizon in Wesley Chapel?
Baker, who also spoke to the Pasco Alliance of Community Associations (PACA) on Jan. 9 at the Land O’Lakes Community Center, told the Rotary Club members in attendance that the Cypress Creek Town Center developers will soon be widening the last two-lane section of Wesley Chapel Blvd. (S.R. 54 between its junction with S.R. 56 and I-75). The expansion of Wesley Chapel Blvd. is part of the transportation impacts required to finally build the long-awaited outlet mall project, which has finally gotten past its legal hurdles and can begin going vertical soon.
Speaking of transportation impacts, Baker also noted that although there has been a lot of discussion about the possible 33-mile elevated toll road along S.R. 54 between U.S. 19 in New Port Richey and S.R. 56, “that project is still in the infancy stage. The county responded as it should to an unsolicited bid, but it takes us 5-7 years to build a major roadway. It’s possible that we may only start with a first phase of the elevated project, stretching from the failed intersection of Collier Pkwy. and 54 to S.R. 56, which is the busiest section of the road today.”
The good news is that the Florida Department of Transportation has given its initial approval for the elevated roadway to begin lease negotiations with International Infrastructure Partners, LLC, which could close on the project as early as 2015. If it moves forward, the corridor would be the first privately designed, constructed, operated and maintained elevated tollway in the state.
Paula O’Neil Addresses Pasco Republican Club
Pasco County clerk of court and comptroller Dr. Paula O’Neil, who was elected Pasco’s first female clerk in 2008 and again in 2012, stopped by the January 9 meeting of the Wesley Chapel Republican Club (held at Wesley Chapel Hyundai) to speak to local Republicans about what exactly it is that she oversees across Pasco County.
Not only is O’Neil the clerk and comptroller for Pasco, but she also was elected president of the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers last June, serving as the face of that professional association.
O’Neil also recently has been known as the face of Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC)’s “Pink Army,” a breast cancer awareness group. The popular clerk was able to proudly begin the meeting by telling members about her recent victory over the deadly disease, having undergone her last chemotherapy treatment in December.
“(Getting breast cancer) is not a path I would have chosen, but I’m thankful for the experience,” she told the club. “It was uncomfortable, but not intolerable.”
O’Neil said that she was blown away by the loving embrace and support she received from the community after publicly announcing her diagnosis.
She also gave a rundown of the clerk’s office’s tasks, which have become almost entirely electronic.
“We are now electronically filing almost all of our documents,” she said.
Among those are official court records, applications for passports, marriage licenses and weapons, mortgage and deed records and especially traffic citations. In fact, all Civil court documents have been filed electronically since April 2013.
“As we get more electronic, more is expected of us,” O’Neil explained. “We’re getting your tickets processed much more quickly now.”
Currently, O’Neil is in charge of 350 employees working in six buildings across the county. However, although the Wesley Chapel area may presently be the fastest-growing region of Pasco, don’t expect to see a clerk of court office opening in the area anytime soon. O’Neil explained that even though the area is rapidly expanding, 68 percent of the county’s population still resides west of U.S. 41. However, she said that she hopes to add Saturday hours to her offices by April, the closest to Wesley Chapel being in Dade City. — Matt Wiley
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