Page 9 - Florida Sentinel 1-28-22

Local Feature
Tampa Native’s Coloring Book Aims To Let Kids Have Fun While Learning About God
Hillsborough County Tax Collector Releases State Of The Organization – Year One Recap
Highlighting many suc- cesses in the Tax Collector’s First Year in Office
Hillsborough County Tax Collector Nancy Millan has released the State of the Or- ganization and Annual Report for the agency —looking back at her accomplishments dur- ing her first year in office and celebrating their successes.
Millan, the former Direc- tor of Community Relations for the Tax Collector's office, was elected Tax Collector in 2020. She replaced Doug Belden who had served in that elected position for 22 years.
"I am excited to share these amazing successes that we have been able to accom- plish here at the Tax Collec- tor's office — many were campaign promises that I made," said Millan. "I am honored to work with such a phenomenal team who under- stands the importance of what we do and look forward to what we, as a team, will do in 2022," she continued.
Highlights from year one:
Increased the starting pay for our customer service rep- resentatives -- one of Nancy's campaign promises;
Partnered with CFX to clear toll violations so that customers can make direct payment and clear the toll stop in our offices at the time of their registration renewal;
We were the first tax col- lector's office in the state of Florida to deploy remote driv- ing tests, eliminating the in- vehicle requirement for driving test examiners – which keeps our team and our customers safe;
NANCY MILLAN ...Hillsborough County Tax Collector
With guidance from the Florida Department of Health, we increased branch customer capacity once COVID restric- tions were eased and were able to safely serve over 1.4 million customers in 2021;
We enhanced our call cen- ter with additional staffing re- sources and implemented an ad hoc telework program for employees impacted by COVID to improve phone services resulting in an in- crease of calls answered by 59 percent;
Deployed our first digital employee, Sofie, powered by artificial intelligence and ma- chine learning capabilities;
We reached a 94% vacci- nation rate in our organiza- tion -- another incredible effort by all to keep our team and customers safe;
And, finally, our agency was good financial stewards of the tax revenue we collected and provided $22 million back to the county for their use for schools, libraries, and other essential services.
To watch the state of the organization video and review the annual report, visit hill- stax.org/state-of-the-org.
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Growing
up in West
Tampa,
Leonard
Boone said as
a youth he
spent many
days talking
with God. As a
teen, he be-
came the
youth leader in
his community
of Armor Ban-
ner Young
People Union (ABYPU). Throughout his child- hood and adolescence years, he loved to write and color.
It was in 2010, Barack Obama had been elected President of the United States 2 years prior, when the vision of a coloring book came to his mind.
“I wanted to shed a positive light on the youth of this world, while putting the Word of God back into everything we do,” Boone explained.
Boone’s idea of the coloring book came to fruition during the pandemic. The title of the col- oring book is “Boone’s Color Me Good.” While enjoying the coloring book, youngsters would also learn more about God. They will color their favorite music artists, actors, actresses and sports heroes.
“Boone’s Color Me God,” “is not only a brand, but a movement that starts with developing the minds of our youth, so they can begin to color our world the way they see it with God in their
LEONARD V. BOONE, III
hearts,” he said.
A current resident of Atlanta, GA, Boone
said his most recent edition, Volume V (3 differ- ent editions) has a QR code, making it more ac- cessible. To date, 3,000 copies of the coloring books have been distributed. They’re in such places as Alaska, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Italy, he said.
The King High School graduate is the son of Joyce Christopher, and he has several other relatives in the area.
Boone will be back in the Tampa area in early February as he will be a guest of the day- time talk show, Sisaundra Show, in Orlando.
Find out more about Boone at www.boones- colormegoodcoloringbook.com.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2022 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY PAGE 9-A