Discussions on whether or not the County should continue their 50 year lease on State-owned Chinsegut will be part of this Tuesday’s (May 27) agenda. They last discussed this in a meeting on May 6, 2025 (Item G1).

The May 6 meeting started with an excellent presentation by Scott Herring on how County Facilities operates and schedules maintenance and improvements. I’d recommend a listen and completely agree with his perspective on how costly deferred maintenance is (we’ve seen that in the City of Brooksville with the loss of the Tom Varn Park wooden playground and in the County with the impending loss of Linda Petersen Tower).

Following Herring, each commissioner weighed in with their current perspective. The following is my summary of what I heard them say – if any of these are not accurate, I invite that Commissioner to contact me and I will correct it accordingly.

1. Chairman Brian Hawkins: Met with Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson to see if the State would take over management. Simpson is on the small group of State leaders that would decide if the County is even ALLOWED to back out of their 50 year lease. Simpson recommended the County keep the lease but ask for an appropriation from the State to cover the larger expenses the county is incurring on the property. Hawkins agreed with Simpson’s plan.
2. Commissioner John Allocco: Did not agree with Simpson’s plan as he felt it would take away some other appropriation the county might desire. Allocco wants the county out of the Chinsegut lease as soon as possible.
3. Commissioner Steve Champion: Thinks the property should be managed by the County if expenses can be reduced AND if the property is made accessible to the public more than the current 10 hours a week.
4. Commissioner Ryan Amsler: as the one who proposed the DOGE conversations, Amsler believes every dollar should be analyzed. He likes Chairman Hawkins idea of requesting State appropriations is the first step. He also wanted to consider the introductory email offer made by the Historic Hernando Preservation Society (HHPS) to take on portions of the County responsibilities to reduce taxpayer expense.
5. Commissioner Jerry Campbell: likes the State appropriations idea but is concerned about the two year process that is and what they will do in the meantime. Wants to look at an HHPS business plan.

Since that meeting, HHPS has been working to develop a business plan to manage the grounds and retreat center. It was finalized and emailed to the BOCC today.

The BOCC has also received a joint management plan from local businessman Yann Milcendeau and realtor and property managers Tom & Tammy Dishman.

Both provide options to reduce County expenses, though by very different methods.

The City lease for the retreat center expires on June 30, 2025 so the BOCC will likely want to make a decision or at least take steps toward one. So this is your time to let them know what you think.

Brian Hawkins	Chairman			bhawkins@co.hernando.fl.us
Jerry Campbell	Vice Chairman		11/30/2026	jerryc@co.hernando.fl.us
John Allocco	Second Vice Chairman		11/30/2028	jallocco@co.hernando.fl.us
Ryan Amsler	Commissioner		11/30/2028	ramsler@co.hernando.fl.us
Steve Champion	Commissioner		11/30/2028	schampion@co.hernando.fl.us

P.S. We had a super time last weekend at Chinsegut in a joint event with the Tampa Bay History Center and FAMU. Hopefully the first of many, many more! That’s where the photo below and the top photo with the magnificent horses came from. Onward and Upward!

Hernando County BOCC May 27 agenda