Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 10-10-17

Features
Hillsborough County Seeks Residents For Diversity Advisory Council
Hillsborough County is seeking interested residents to serve on the Diversity Ad- visory Council. The Council was created to facilitate com- munication between Hills- borough County government and diverse populations, and to address matters related to diversity that affect County government and its citizens. The Council is appointed by the Board of County Com- missioners and is comprised of two individuals from each of the following categories: African American; Caribbean; Far East Asian; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender; Hispanic/Latino; Indian Asian; Middle Eastern; Na- tive American; Northern and Southern European; People with Disabilities; and At- Large (Identification with a specific category is not re- quired).
Six positions are vacant. Five terms are for two years ending August 31, 2019, and one term is for one year end- ing August 31, 2018. Posi- tions are specified as individuals from the follow- ing categories: At-Large; Far
East Asian; Indian Asian; Na- tive American; and Caribbean (two positions).
All nominees must reside in and be registered voters in Hillsborough County. Ap- pointments are voluntary po- sitions; therefore, members serve without compensation.
The deadline to apply is Oct. 26, 2017. Citizens inter- ested in being considered for appointment must submit: an essay of 200-500 words highlighting what your goals would be
as a member of the Diversity Advisory Council and state why you are most suited to carry forth those goals; a completed Questionnaire for the Diversity Advisory Coun- cil and a Standards of Con- duct Form. All questions must be answered.
The forms are available in the Commissioners’ recep- tion area on the second floor of County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd. in downtown Tampa; by calling the Boards and Councils Coordinator at (813) 272-5826; or on the County’s website at HCFLGov.net. Forms must be signed and dated.
Community Outpouring During Power Outages Helped Residents
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
The Tampa Housing Authority had reached its residents before the storm came through; area agencies and businesses immediately started to assist
Residents in several hous- ing developments are trying to get their lives back to nor- mal after the disruption caused by the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, Sept. 10th. Many of the developments suffered outages, in some in- stances for several days.
Residents in Robles Park, Mobley Park, River Cove, Sul- phur Springs, Belmont Heights Estates were among the areas affected by power outages.
Cherie Jacobs, Media Spokesperson for Tampa Electric Company (TECO) said, “We have a methodical, organized way to restore power after a hurricane.
- “Our first priority is to re- store the facilities that are vital for public safety -- hospi- tals, fire stations, etc. We work with our community partners (cities and counties)
to set those priorities ahead of the storm.
- “When we restore residen- tial outages, we concentrate on the outages that will re- store power to the largest number of people in the shortest period of time.”
Lillian Stringer, Direc- tor of Public Relations for the Tampa Housing Author-
CHERIE JACOBS ...Spokesperson, TECO Energy
ity (THA), said the THA “staff starting preparing for a storm or hurricane long before Hur- ricane Irma. “We called all staff together and met with a Public Safety person; distrib- uted flyers to every residence with instructions and infor- mation about evacuating and met with the Resident Council Presidents,” she stated.
She added that they also instructed their residents to be watchful of weather fore- casts and follow instructions if they were told to evacuate from an area.
Mrs. Stringer said the “community was very gra- cious to all of their properties who were without power,” some of whom were: Metro- politan Ministries, Idlewild Baptist Church, and Allen Temple AME Church.
“Residents of our commu- nities were incredibly under- standing about power outages because the power outages and the complaints were min- imal. They also witnessed the community's genuine concern through the outpouring of
DEBBIE JOYCE ...THA, Director of Asset Management
food, water and ice and man- power to get these resources to them,” Debbie Joyce, Di- rector of Asset Management, THA stated.
Ms. Joyce said the fol- lowing THA properties lost power: Robles Park, 4 days; The Arbors, 5 days; Squire Villa, 5 days; and Azzarelli Apartments, 3 days.
Ms. Dianne Hart spear- headed a drive to assist resi- dents in several different housing developments. She was assisted by Connie Bur- ton, Rev. Willie Dixon and many volunteers. They used their personal finances to pur- chase food and water to take to the developments.
After their initial move to assist people, several agen- cies, restaurants, other busi- nesses and individuals came aboard to assist the families. Ms. Hart has continued to assist many of the residents with filling out their FEMA forms so that they will be able to replace the food they lost during the outages.
City Of Tampa
Water Department Converting To Chlorine Disinfection
The Tampa Water Department is modifying its disinfection method for City of Tampa cus- tomers. The modification will begin October 16th through October 30th.
During this period, water distributed to all customers will be converted from chloramine to chlorine disinfection.
The conversion is temporary and is a standard water system maintenance measure to optimize water quality without the loss of millions of gallons of drinking water.
Customers may notice a slight difference in the taste and odor of their drinking water while chlorine is in use. The level of chlorine will be 2.5 to 3.5 milligrams per liter for most customers (for comparison, one teaspoon of salt to 5,000 milligrams). This is the same level of chlorine used to treat Tampa’s drinking water for more than 50 years prior to converting to chloramine disinfec- tion in the 1980s.
During the treatment period, the water department will conduct daily testing to monitor water quality and assess the effectiveness of the temporary change in disinfection method.
Health officials advise that kidney dialysis patients should not be impacted by the chlorine treat- ment, but anyone with special health concerns is encouraged to contact their health care provider with questions about their health care.
Individuals who keep fish for a hobby who already have a system in place to remove chloramines from tank or pond water should not be affected. Questions about aquarium maintenance during the temporary treatment period should be referred to local pet care providers.
For more information, contact City of Tampa Utilities at (813) 274-8811, option 3, or visit www.TampaGov.net/watermaintenance.
PAGE 2 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2017