Published: Friday, May. 30, 2008

Updated: Friday, May. 30, 2008

Lakewood Ranch residents govern themselves

LAKEWOOD RANCH - Lakewood Ranch's community development district government has been compared to a small municipality or county.

The community has five boards, each independently elected by residents from their districts . Each board appoints a representative to the Interdistrict Authority.

The intent of the IDA is to manage common activities across all of the districts, such as landscaping and irrigation.

"If something needs funding it has to go back to the boards for approval, but the IDA handles budgeted activities in the common areas, said Dave Brucker, a Lakewood Ranch resident and a supervisor.

The boards and IDA meet the third Thursday of every month at Town Hall to handle agendas filled with many items of business.

"We vote on issues from how much should we spend on holiday lights to should we put money in the State Board of Administration, " Brucker said. "We cover the whole range of things, like a county government does."

Some residents express confusion over the relationship between the boards and the IDA, but Brucker said it's quite simple.

"The boards, who are residents, agree what should be done in Lakewood Ranch, while the community manger and the Interdistrict Authority determine how it's done," Brucker said.

Residents have totally filled the five boards since Jan. 1, 2007, when the transition from developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch was completed.

Making the transition from a developer to resident-run was a carefully orchestrated event, pulled off by a transition team of roughly 25 who worked for 18 months.

"It was a group of very knowledgeable and very dedicated people," said Bob Weber, who represented the developer in the process.

During the transition, residents had to make big decisions, like was it time to incorporate into a city.

"We decided that incorporation and consolidation where not the right ways to go," transition team member Tom Green said a few weeks after the transition was completed. "

As time went by, the five boards decided to hire a community manager, Bob Fernandez, to supervise the daily operations and have him report to the IDA.