Purchasing Process Assignment

To do the purchasing process assignment, I turned to my great county, Hernando County, once again. I decided to simply just type in “Hernando County Purchasing” into Google, and that lead me to the Hernando County Purchasing department. From there I was able to contact someone, (For give me, but I never caught their name, but the phone number was (352) 754-4199.

The whole purchasing process is quite a blur to me. It was a ton of information to take in all at once, but I tried my best to understand it and how it goes about. Like you said in class today Professor Thelen, it is a lot of checks and balances. A person, department, or group of people, such as the board of county commissioners must put in a bid in order to obtain whatever equipment or service that they need and or want. The must submit the form and signed contract to the clerk of court. The paperwork also includes guidelines that layout the procedure to accepting the bid, and the conditions of the equipment or services requested.

As for my document, I was able to get a print of an active bid. The bid was issued by the county commissioners and it was for 4 solid waste compactors, and 6 yard compactors. The document goes in to detail the style and types of compactors wanted, and then have a long checklist on the last page for the vendor to check before submitting the bid.

A trip to my local school board...

I live in Hernando County Florida, which is about 45 miles north of Tampa. I decided to go on over to the Hernando County school board for my public meeting. I myself am a product of the Hernando county school system, so I found it very interesting to see how much things have changed since I left.
The meetings are held on Tuesday’s, usually twice a month, and the school board members meet to talk about zoning, current issues, future ideas, and then they open the floor to listen to the people who have come to speak.
I arrived about 10 minutes before the meeting began, and needless to say, it was a small crowd. I was one of about 15 people that attended the meeting. I found this to be quite shocking considering the fact that the Hernando County school system is not very small. I took my seat and waited for the meeting to begin.
How can I act surprised? First topic of the evening… swine flu update. Board members gave updates of enrollment it schools and any different precautions, if any, different schools are taking. From my point of view, the board members did not seem to worried about the situation, but I think being in the times we are, it is just standard measures for every meeting.
The meeting then turned to talks of a new high school that the county is building. The school board allowed students, teachers, and faculty members to name the new school. As of the day of the meeting, the voting has been closed and the board will then vote on the name by December 15th.

Other topics later included the budget and then the boards search for the district’s new superintendent. They then broke topic to listen to the small group of parents and faculty members who wanted to talk. Usual topics, swine flu, budget costs

At the end of the meeting, I ran into two third grade teachers who has attended the meeting. I had a quick chit chat with them. I asked them why they came, and they stated they always like to try and attend as many meetings as they can. After a little more small talk I learned that these were not just any normal third grade teachers. They were inclusion class teachers. Inclusion classes were classes mandated by the federal government to give students with mental disabilities a chance to learn in the same classroom as regular students. It was very interesting talking with them. They told me how stressful it can get for them to be able to get these students with mental disabilities to pass the FCAT. I spoke with Mrs. Teresa Young (352)650-5362 and Mrs. Debbie Torres (Who did not supply me her phone number).

Over all I really did learn a lot about how public meetings are held and configured. And overall school board meetings are rather fascinating.

Let's go see a trial!

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post with my public record search, my father is a court security officer at the federal court house. So needless to say it was not very hard for me to find a trial and to sit in on it unlike like most of my classmates who had problems.

My Father was able to get me into a trial being judged by James Moody, who has been known for hosting some very high profile cases such as Al-Arian case. This case I was viewing today was sort of a everyday occurrence. A drug trial. The United States vs Demetrium Silas Shaw. This man was charged with three things, two counts of drug possession with intent to distribute, and the third count of knowingly possessing and affecting interstate and foreign commerce ammunition .

I was very surprised at the look and feel of the courtroom. Sort of a classroom feel if I would say. There were overheads, and pull down screens, and podiums and desks with papers and files everywhere. The defendant sat on one side and the state attorney's sat on the other.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get to the trial till the end of the day, so I was only able to witness about 15 minutes, but I can say that I was very intimidated by those 15 minutes. The courtroom can be a very scary place, and for some people, that can be the last place they visit for the rest of their lives.