Resolution honoring Wilton Simpson for service
What the county recorded
This item is not from the published agenda
It is a stretch of the recording that this archive identified as a separate matter — a call to order, a recess, or something taken up that the agenda does not list. There is no official title, no staff recommendation and no disposition, because the county never recorded one. Everything below is inferred.
The source document
The county’s agenda for Board of County Commissioners, Jun 6, 2023
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
The county’s minutes for Board of County Commissioners, Jun 6, 2023
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 16m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 84% of 57 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
right. We'll close that item and now. A guest of honor and his family is here with him. Fantastic. Yeah. Commissioner?
Almost almost didn't recognize him.
Mr. Simpson, please come forward. And your family can come up behind you.
They want to join you. Okay. Good morning. Uh this is resolution number twenty three dash one two six. A resolution by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, honoring Wilton Simpson for his dedication and service to the citizens of Pasco County. Whereas Wilton Simpson, Florida's 13th Commissioner of Agriculture and a fifth-generation Floridian, oversees the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Commissioner Simpson understands the challenges faced
by Florida's farmers and will guide the Department in functions such as protecting the environment. ensuring the availability, affordability and safety of our food supply, and protecting Florida consumers. And whereas from 2012 to 2022, Commissioner Simpson served as a member of the Florida Senate and was elected Senate President for the 2020 to twenty twenty two term. Commissioner Simpson, while serving as Senate President through a worldwide pandemic, fought to keep
Florida open and free and to ensure that Florida was a beacon of hope, opportunity, and freedom for generations to come. And whereas, seeing a need in the community, Wilton Simpson and his wife Kathy founded the Simpson Breast Health Center to ensure women had the care they deserved at a time when they deserved it the most. The Simpson Breast Health Center at Advent Health Zephyrhills is led by an independent team of board-certified physicians
and provides some of Florida's most advanced diagnostic imaging technology for breast cancer with a full spectrum of breast care services. And whereas Wilton Simpson is an advocate for the PACE Center for Girls and he has worked for Policies and Resources for PACE's mission to equip girls and young women across our state with the opportunity for a better future through education, counseling, training, and advocacy. And
whereas the Moffitt Cancer Center honored Wilton Simpson for his long-term standing commitment to Moffitt's mission and his legacy of supporting the growth of the scientific community for the benefit of all Floridians. And his dedication to the Spiros FL project, by the naming of Wilton Way, and the first 75 acres of the development as the W. E. Simpson concourse for cures. And whereas Wilton
Simpson donated 1.7 acres of land for CARES, Community Aging and Retirement Services for a 6,000 square foot senior center in Dade City, Florida, helping to protect the dignity and the individuality of each senior by making a healthy, safe, and beautiful environment for them. And whereas learning what it meant to be part of a team from his time on the football field in that old Pasco Pirates jersey, Wilton Simpson understands
that our problems are real, The stakes are high. And the solutions require someone who knows how to roll up his sleeves and get the job done. Woven into every honor and achievement are the triumphs, tragedies, and truly incredible stories of hardworking Floridians Wilton Simpson has fought for with the goal of helping others achieve their American dream. Now therefore be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said Board hereby
honors Wilton Simpson for his advocacy, philanthropy, and leadership in the community by his dedication and service to the citizens of Pasco County. Done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present and voting the sixth day of June 2023.
Move
approval.
Second.
All in favor say aye.
Aye.
Aye. Commissioner Oakley. Can't believe it's this time. You don't look old enough to have done all these things we're looking at on this paper. So But really you've done a great job and served your county, your city and you know he does live in my district, you know that's of this district.
But we uh we have greater expectations for you in the future, so we're we're not letting you retire or step aside either. Even though Kathy says it's enough, but
uh you've now moved in your new home in my district. And your children are gonna move in their new home in my district. So um and now we're both just called commissioners, so we're equal now and so you get oppressed it. So but Wilton I I cherish your friendship. I love and care for your family as though they were mine. Um I just can't say enough of all the things you've done for Pasco County and
certainly want to thank you for for every little bit.
Just keeps going. We'll keep working together and achieve a lot. And thank you for all you do. Would
you like to speak? Well hang hang on first just a second. Yeah. The accolades. We're gonna pile on. Yeah. Good job, Oakley.
Yep.
It's amazing to see the work that you've done and how it's going to carry on to another generation, like myself, your kids, your grandkids, my kids. The work that you've done as Senate President, what you're leading the way, and the agriculture community, and just the state of business in our state is phenomenal. And it's an honor to, whenever you decide to retire, hopefully some of us will still be around with pick. up where you've left off, carry the tour, and continue to make our home and our state the best place to live and
raise a family and and have success. So thank you for being here today.
And and I would like to add on. Uh you know when we had some others in the Senate that were reluctant to uh file for appropriation. We we um could always count on Senator Simpson and now Commissioner Simpson. And he carried a lot for us that I think a lot of people in this county don't realize. So we are very appreciative. You you saw what our needs are here in the county. And um and they're they're big and
and so all your help that you gave us during that time was greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Mr. Carbella?
From an administrator's perspective, your your uh your team and yourself have just been fantastic to work with and I really appreciate all the support that you've given to the county. You've really helped us you know get a lot of things done, which is which is great, and and we continue to really wanna uh move things along economically and and infrastructure wise. It's it's just been a phenomenal partnership, so we thank you for all of that.
I'd like to say, Commissioner, that uh you have been, I think, the most impactful elected official that Pasco County has ever had. Uh and it's not that just resonates how you do great things in just the east side of the county, you do great things in the west side of the county. Your overall thinking benefits the entire state in such a great way that I think is the reason we're the best state to live in. Uh you'll you're Dedication just every step of the way. Uh the honors you get at Moffitt, well well deserved. Loved working with you. Your mentorship
with her was phenomenal. Uh getting stuff done with Pay Center for Girls uh meant so much to her. Metropolitan Ministries as well, another one that you helped drive along to help people that needed it. Uh the dedication to the care center was just something so impactful for uh the seniors at L. That need to care. So everything you've done has been for the betterment of all. And your your logic, your wisdom, your smarts, uh has really just been tremendous leadership. And uh Kathy, I hate to say this, but I think there's better things still coming.
Commissioner. Thank you. Well, I should just say thank you and leave the room. I can only go down from here. Um but it was such an honor. to um to serve the last 10 years in the Florida Senate and be the Senate president during the pandemic and and keeping Florida open and getting our kids back in school, making sure our businesses were able to run and operate. And when you think about the things that we did through those two years, you know, we that we don't normally talk about the Wildlife Corridor exists today.
It was one of my major priorities that we had had of um you know my t last two years as president and we put um you know this last year a billion dollars nearly into helping take down that wildlife corridor and a lot of times we don't always appreciate those things and if you think about what is the wildlife corridor, if you Google a map of the state of Florida at nighttime on a clear night, you will see all the beautiful lights that make up Florida. Everywhere it's dark is the wildlife corridor. Everywhere it's dark is where we
grow our food. We charge our aquifer and it's an area that has to be preserved or needs to be preserved for all of those reasons. And then to be uh elected um Commissioner Oakley um it's clearly um an honor of lifetime and um And you know, part of that wildlife corridor fits right into, you know, obviously fits hand in glove with your agriculture. Two weeks ago at our cabinet meeting we approved $70 million, almost 40,000 acres of land to be preserved in the state of Florida.
in this year's budget, there's thirty over thirty million dollars to preserve a thousand acres in the Wesley Chapel area. Um something we're looking forward to um seeing finish up here pretty soon. There is when you think about Moffitt, Moffitt is going to revolutionize cancer care in the world. The research facility they're building there will not only bring thousands of jobs to our area of the state, but the world the the world will travel to the Tampa Bay area now to receive cancer. They already do, but more will as
this center comes online. Another major priority and and I'm glad they're breaking ground when two or three years I think we'll have some of the first buildings open. And when you think of all the other little things, the the stuff for Dade City and Zephyrhills, we're gonna have an armory, a brand new armory in in Sephora Hills, Florida, and and you think about the the the county itself and Metropolitan Ministries and how we handle our homeless, all of those things were critical to be um part of a of part of being in the Senate, Senate President. And now as Ag Commissioner,
you know, it's all about safe, affordable, abundant food, making sure our food supply um remains robust in this um country, but in the state in particular. And so it's a real honor to be here today. Thank you for this resolution and I want to thank my family, obviously they've been here the whole time. And um and Kathy I think has gotten you now having to retire now a few years. I mean I've got I think three years and about six months left. And um but um anyways it's been a real honor to serve. It's a real honor to be in this community growing up
here in Trilvy and um and it's really been from the football field um to the Senate presidency. So uh thank you all and thank you for the resolution.
Thank
you.
Yeah, we'll come down and have trick and
take a picture.
Oh two second.
Everyone look at me really quick. One, two, three.
Right right here. One, two, three.
Perfect.
All right, right here. One, two, three.
We're working. Until you get it right, I'll keep it in Pierce. Thanks.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah.
That's okay.
Well well done Commissioner Oakley. I'm glad you brought that forward. Do I? I'm glad you brought the resident forward to have that award.
Oh my goodness. It's hard to imagine how much has happened during his term in the legislature and all that's gotten done. No, it's done fantastic. Actually he was very inter instrumental in the When I was a Swiftman I started thinking about the water line connecting a regional system to connect Zephyrhills and Aid City with water. Wilton and also uh Will Weatherford got the funds nine million dollars to have that line put in on the east it's on the east side of three oh
one connecting Dade City and Zephyrhills from their water. So It's it was great thanks. Just
think about that. Only nine million dollars.
But it got done
through the state. So the main subject of sewer programs pr preserving agricultural land for future development or from fruit future development to keep uh the food source going. So just amazing accomplishments.
Oh that's true.