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CORY LAKE ISLES WELCOMES ITS NEW CDD SUPERVISORS

November 4^th was the beginning of a new era in Cory Lake Isles. For the first time in its history, the Cory Lakes CDD Board now has a majority of supervisors that were elected by the residents of CLI. Over the past 16 years all previous CDD Board members were either hand chosen by the developer, or had filed for election but ran unopposed and did not appear on any election ballot. It became clear that the November 4^th CDD election had the attention of the entire community as almost 90% of our District’s registered voters turned out to cast their vote. The residents of CLI should feel proud of this unprecedented voter turnout for a New Tampa community. The three newly elected supervisors Kerri Ringhof, David Burman and Dan Morford defeated their opponents, two of which were Developer appointed CDD incumbents, with each new Supervisor garnering between 75% - 80% of the vote. This was the widest margin of victory of any other election in Hillsborough County. This unprecedented election and its overwhelming results provide a clear indication that CLI residents are eager to move away from a Developer-controlled community, and head towards a more representative form of community government.

The new CDD Board of Supervisors has made it a priority to include all community residents in the governmental process at CLI. To help facilitate and encourage resident input, one of the first orders of business for the new Board was to create new standing committees for the community to address areas such as Facilities, Security, Aquatic & Landscaping, Communication, Quality of Life and others. A CDD supervisor participates on each committee; however each and every committee is chaired by a resident (not the Supervisor) and has a team of residents working together to gather information, plan, and make decisions that will benefit their community.

The large response of residents that have joined these committees has been impressive to say the least. The new CDD board has welcomed our fellow neighbors into our community’s decision making process as we head down a path to achieve a fiscally sound, well-maintained, and secure neighborhood that will thrive when residents feel included and respected. The ability to ask questions, receive appropriate answers and have all decisions made in the best interest of the community, will assure residents that Cory Lakes and its government are listening and responding to the people they represent. It is understood that every decision may not please every resident of our large community. However, every resident can be confident their opinions will be respected, their voices will be heard, and their involvement is encouraged in their own community. This community looks forward to a new beginning.