Hernando County commissioners shut down the Hernando Beach Volunteer Fire Department on Valentine’s Day 2017. They did so for good reason.
The volunteers were failing to respond to 911 calls. They’d ignored a state requirement to hire a medical director. For more than two years, they never produced a financial audit to show how they were spending taxpayer dollars. They’d become infamous for their bad behavior.
Yet even then, Commissioner Wayne Dukes, who represented Hernando Beach and had fire service experience in the military, stood by the volunteers.
After his fellow commissioners outvoted him and closed the department, Dukes blamed poor county oversight for the failure.
"We all know looking back that there was some bad leadership," he said, adding "we let it happen.’’