VOLUME 4 ISSUE 41
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“Penny” priorities
County to focus on public safety, transportation with potential 20-year penny sales tax renewal.
Protecting our schools Four officers sworn in to bolster safety at Marion County educational facilities By Lauren Morrish lauren@ocalagazette.com
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Top row, left to right: File photos: Tracy Straub. Motorists line for the light at County Road 475 as they drive on Southwest 32nd Street in Ocala. City Manager Pete Lee. Bottom row, left to right: File photos: Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods. A new firetruck is shown at Marion County Fire Rescue Station 28 in Rolling Greens in Ocala on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. The engine was purchased entirely with funding raised through the Penny Sales Tax. Kevin Sheilley. [Photos by Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette]
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
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arion County officials have begun to itemize and evaluate the costs of their highest priority projects that could be funded by the county’s penny sales tax. The extra cent sales tax, first enacted in 2016 after being approved by voters, raised the rate from the 6% levied by the state to 7%. It is up for renewal in 2024, and many within the county think it should be renewed for a 20-year span. This would allow the county to plan far in advance for improvements such as revamping public safety, roads and infrastructure. Based on polling of voters conducted by the Ocala Metro Chamber and Economic Partnership, renewing the sales tax is supported by the public and can help share the burden of funding
countywide improvements over residents and visitors alike, said CEP President and CEO Kevin Sheilley. “I think first and foremost, overwhelmingly, our community supports this,” Sheilley said. “They understand … that these dollars go to fund these important things that we all want.” Out of the priority projects listed for funding from the sales tax, roads and transportation infrastructure make up about 70% of funded priorities. Public safety, including sheriff, fire and EMSrelated projects, make up the other 30%, County Administrator Mounir Bouyounes said Tuesday during a Marion County Commission workshop. After assessing the major needs for projects and improvements across all areas, the county identified a total of nearly $1.3 billion worth of need. With the sales tax collection of projected to be $65 million per year, revenues received
over 20 years would be enough to fund all of the projects, Bouyounes said.
Sheriff ’s needs
Public safety makes up a large portion of the projects that the county intends to prioritize with penny sales tax revenue. The Marion County Sheriff ’s Office will require $48 million for its regular operations and to complete capital projects but also to purchase new equipment and vehicles as needed. The sheriff ’s patrol operations will require $72.6 million to purchase a new helicopter, build a new district office, purchase training equipment, purchase law enforcement equipment and replace vehicles. The sheriff ’s emergency management operations needs $590,616 for new emergency management equipment and to replace vehicles, while the sheriff ’s See Penny, page A2
chool safety in Marion County took a big step forward recently when four officers were sworn in as members of the Marion County Public Schools Safe Schools Department. In a ceremony held on Sept. 19, Superintendent Diane Gullett swore in Police Chief Dennis McFatten, who then swore in officers Cynthia Barnes, Corey Taylor, and Kenny Singletary. The event was more than ceremonial, however. As McFatten noted, as the only sworn officer in the department, he alone had been authorized to use weapons in the possible event of an attack; the other recently sworn officers had been approved only to direct people to safety—run and hide. McFatten said sworn status for the officers means they now will be armed and can be more effective if a school shooter is on campus, at board meetings or at work sessions. “This is what’s best for students, so I fully support it,” he said. Combined, these officers represent over 89 years of law enforcement experience. McFatten has served more than 30 years in the Army, the Florida Department of Corrections, Marion County Sheriff ’s Office and the district’s police department. Barnes and Taylor both have over 20 years of service with the Ocala Police Department. Singletary has spent more than 11 years with the Florida Department of Corrections, the Marion County Sheriff ’s Office, and school district police department. See Safe, page A3
Employee file of repeat Ocala council candidate reveals poor conduct By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
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s Reginald Landers conducted his ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the Ocala City Council this year, his campaign signs touted “Coach Reggie Landers,” a title familiar to many in the community after his decades of working in Marion County Public Schools. Landers has lost twice in runs for city council, once in 2020 and again in 2023. But there is another side of Landers’ record that is only now emerging. Over nearly 30 years as an educator and
coach, Landers has amassed a disciplinary record of multiple incidents, including criminal charges, of inappropriate conduct toward students and staff, according to documents obtained from MCPS and the Bay County Clerk of Court. Landers began working for MCPS in 2003 as a teacher at Dunnellon High School. Since 2015, he has worked as a physical education teacher and athletic coach at College Park Elementary School, according to his personnel file. Before coming to Marion County, Landers worked as an exceptional student education teacher at Mosely High School
in Bay County. It was there, in the 2001-2002 school year, that Landers engaged in improper conduct with students, including “inappropriate physical contact, sexually oriented comments and being alone with female students contrary to district directives,” according to an administrative complaint before the Education Practices Commission of the State of Florida. This complaint details two incidents, the first of which occurred in February 2002. Landers was said to have given an 18-year-old “emotionally handicapped” female student a ride home, when he took the student’s hand and placed it
on his groin. When the student pulled her hand away, Landers was said to have exposed his genitals and placed the student’s hand on his genitals and attempted to kiss her, according to the administrative complaint. Earlier that school year in November 2001, he was said to have used inappropriate force against a student, injuring the student’s arm while escorting him out of the gymnasium, according to the administrative complaint. Landers did not contest the claims made in the complaint, according to the settlement agreement. He was charged with battery in Bay County after the incident with the female student,
but the case was later dropped after Landers completed a pre-trial intervention program, according to the Bay County Clerk of Court database. “As part of the pre-trial agreement, he received psychological counseling, agreed to pay for counseling for (redacted victim’s name) and he was required to complete 250 hours of community service, attend a teacher conduct/sexual harassment class, and have no contact with (redacted name) and her family,” according to the administrative complaint. Landers was placed on suspension without pay in May See Landers, page A2
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