ADMINISTRATION: PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that Hernando County speaks with a unified voice on property management issues, and reference of property issues to the Property Management Team must be made mandatory at this time. The following matters shall be reviewed for property management concerns. The initial review should take place prior to any action at the department level and must occur before any recommendation to the Administrator or to the Board for action:

• Acquisition of property or interests in property, e.g., purchase/donation of fee title or easement, lease of real property, dedication of R/W's, potential eminent domain, trade/swap, etc.
   
• Disposal of property or interests in property, by sale, lease, trade/swap, vacation or otherwise (except license agreements of less than seven days duration)
   
• Any citizen inquiries regarding acquisition or disposal of property
   
• Proposals for new construction or renovation of existing improvements, including permanent and temporary buildings, roads, bridges, utility construction, and other public structures.
   
• Ownership determination with respect to requests from citizens or public entities for construction projects, including road assessment MSBU's
   
• Subdivision requests, where approval depends on availability of access to a public road
   
• Review of petitions filed with the County Attorney to vacate any plat or any property dedicated to public or utility use, including but not limited to roads, rights-of-way, and easements
   
• County-instituted requests for survey or title information relating to questions or issues of ownership of county property, and the results of such requests (information only)
   
• Frontage road requirements or policy issues
   
• Notifications from government agencies regarding actions as to County-owned properties or properties adjacent or proximate to County-owned properties, e.g., rezoning notices, SWFWMD actions, DOT acquisition issues
   

A representative from Property Management shall be included in any scheduled discussion of any of the matters set forth above. No memorandum or other recommendation for action by the Board on such matters shall be submitted until review and stamped approval by Property Management for any and all property management issues affecting any such matter, including but not limited to acquisition and possession of all property rights required for such matters.

Approved 1/29/02

PROCEDURES

A department head or designee with a matter for Property Management review shall initiate a Property Management Review Request on the form attached. The form is required for purposes of documentation and scheduling. The form should indicate if there are time constraints that will affect the schedule for review. Generally, routine matters should be reviewed within a week, while more complex projects may require much longer.

When the Property Management Review Request form is received by any person with Property Management review duties, it shall be forwarded as soon as possible to the Property Management Coordinator for entry into the Property Management tracking system. The Coordinator shall assign the matter for response by himself or other persons with Property Management review duties and shall monitor the matter for a timely response.

Some matters, such as major road projects, may require continuing Property Management review and involvement, from initial planning through construction. Others may be handled by brief memo or e-mail response, with a hard copy of any such response filed as appropriate in the Property Management records. Except as provided otherwise by Florida Statutes, Property Management records are open for inspection and copying by the public at any reasonable time, subject to general County public records policies and legal requirements.

When a matter for Property Management review is to be submitted for action by the Board of County Commissioners, the Property Management Coordinator or designee shall affix a stamp in an appropriate place in the documentation to show that the matter has been reviewed and approved.

The initial Property Management Team shall include a designated employee from each of the following offices: Administration, Engineering, County Attorney. The Property Management Coordinator shall be designated by the County Administrator. Staff in each of the three designated offices shall provide such support to Property Management as the workload of the office and the needs of the Property Management designated employee or coordinator may require or permit. The Coordinator and the designated employees shall schedule a weekly meeting to discuss the status of pending matters for review and to make joint decisions on such matters as require Property Management involvement. These procedures may be modified at any time by the Coordinator, subject to approval of the County Administrator, whenever the Coordinator believes such changes will facilitate the effectiveness of Property Management.