IT'S TIME FOR A HARD LOOK AT THINGS...

--- The relationship between the Polk County Opportunity Council and the Bartow City Commission is getting almost like that between Governor Jeb! Bush and millionaire high speed rail activist C.C. "Doc" Dockery...almost.

The situation has come about because the Bartow City Commission appointed community activist Dave Hallock to serve as it's representative on PCOC's Board of Directors. Hallock, who has served on several board including those of United Way of Central Florida and Early Childhood Resources, is well known in the area's social services community and doesn't mind asking hard questions about how the money is spent.

PCOC, a community action agency which provides services to the poor including rent, home repairs, and is also the contractor for the Head Start programme, has had it's reputation damaged in recent years by employees who were convicted of theft...including a previous Executive Director. The agency does like to handle it's business "under the radar", and apparantly does not want hard questions about it's practices and spending, as it is stonewalling Haddock's appointment by requesting to review his credentials further before allowing him to serve.

This has the some Bartow commission members angry enough to the point of suggesting withdrawing from PCOC.

There's no excuse for this behaviour from an organization. Dave Hallock --- whom, by the way, I have never met --- is well known in the social services community of Central Florida. His civic credentials are beyond reproach. He serves as Secretary of Friends of the Bartow Public Library and has worked with Families of Polk County, Inc., in addition to the organizations mentioned previously. The City of Bartow has a seat on the PCOC Board, it is entitled to appoint whoever it wants to fill that slot, and Mr. Hallock seems quite knowledgable and more than qualified to do so.

It's simply a matter of trust.