Hillsborough County Water Resources Monitoring Wastewater Systems

Hurricane Milton Update No.4

This text is from an alert email sent out by Hillsborough County

Hillsborough County, Fl (Oct. 13, 2024) – Currently over 300 Hillsborough County wastewater pump stations are without electricity. This accounts for approximately 33% of total County wastewater pump stations. 

 County crews are working diligently, driving routes to manually operate pumps and generators. These crews are currently pumping down levels at each station individually, but this is only a temporary measure given the scale of the outages. 

While customers may have drinking water available at their homes, we urge residents in affected areas of Hillsborough County to reduce wastewater-producing activities, such as laundry, dishwashing, bathing and showering, and toilet flushing until power is fully restored at these pump stations.  

Without power, Hillsborough County wastewater collection systems are at risk of sewer backups and other sanitary issues. Community cooperation is essential to reduce potential problems 

For questions or to report an active overflow, call Hillsborough County Water Resources Customer Services line at (813) 307-1000 or email WaterDept@HCFL.gov .    

We hope all of you are prepared for the storm. If you want to follow their announcements online and are on Facebook, follow their page: Hillsborough County.

Hillsborough County has announced that all trash, recycling and yard waste pickup is SUSPENDED BEGINNING TODAY, October 8, until after the storm and resumption is announced. DO NOT put out any trash of any kind until service is resumed.

Sun City Center is not in an evacuation zone at this time. We are in zone E, the blue zone on the evacuation map below.

TECO also has a FB page with announcements, and you can sign up for text and phone messages online if you wish.

If you have grandchildren, or guests with children who love to drive your golf cart, you need to be aware of this new legislation.

As of October 1st, any minor driving a golf cart on public roads in Florida must be at least 15 years of age and have at least a learner’s permit to drive. At the age of 16-17, a driver’s license is required. At 18 and over, a government issued photo ID is required but a driver’s license is not.

Violates of the new law will receive a non-criminal traffic infraction with a fine of up to $108. However, it is unclear to me whether the child driving or the owner of the golf cart would owe the fine. Also, be aware that since golf carts are not required to be registered and carry insurance, if an accident happens and there is damage or injury, you could be liable and open to lawsuits with no insurance coverage.

The new law is intended to curb the danger of children operating golf carts without knowing traffic laws, especially without an adult accompanying them. As reported, in Hillsborough County, 16 or 17 children have been injured driving golf carts, and in another county, a three-year-old child driving a golf cart killed a seven-year-old child.

Presumably, lawmakers in Tallahassee thought adults would know and follow traffic laws without a driver’s license and just need to be able to produce a valid ID, but wanted to find a way to restrict children driving them to those who at least have some evidence of the needed knowledge.

Driving on private property is not affected by the law, only public streets.

Please see the link below for a report.

New Law Cracks Down on Teen Golf Cart Drivers

Hillsborough County has changed the days on which residents can water their lawns and increased the times per week from one to two. The basics are below, and also a link to the web page for more information.

Days

• Addresses ending in 0, 1, 2 or 3
  • Mondays and Thursdays
• Addresses ending in 4, 5 or 6
  • Tuesdays and Fridays
• Addresses ending in 7, 8 or 9
  • Wednesdays and Saturdays
• Common areas with or without addresses, locations with no address, and locations with mixed addresses (such as office complexes and shopping centers)
  • Wednesdays and Saturdays

Times

All watering must be done either between midnight and 8 AM OR between 6 PM and midnight, and only once on your designated days.

Link to the Hillsborough County Water & Sewer page

SCC residents are fortunate to have the Security Patrol that not only drives patrols seven days a week but provides a host of other services from golf cart registration to wellness checks. The Security Patrol recently held a briefing which included important information about those and many other topics, like the laws about pet ownership, registration and vaccination. Click the links below to see the briefing slides or to go to the Security Patrol website.

Security Patrol Briefing

Please note: the Briefing is a 14 page PDF that can be read online or downloaded.

Security Patrol Website

We mourn the Wedgewood community members who passed away in 2021. We remember them with fondness and sympathy for their loved ones.

Bill Broberg died February 22, 2021 (Click here for obituary)

Debra Smith Mitchell died February 25, 2021 (no obituary or photo provided)

Joanne Bauer died on August 19, 2021 (click here for obituary)

Kathryn Berry died October 28, 2021 (no obituary or photo provided)

Bille Jean Ward died November 13, 2021 (click for obituary)

Chuck Reese died in December 2021

(no obituary provided). Please see an interview with Chuck on Youtube by clicking here

The Wedgewood Owners’ Association, Inc. held its annual meeting on December 2. Many thanks to Cindy Vellante for serving on the board for two years. At this meeting, Peter Pullen was re-elected and Angelika Hamilton was elected to her first two-year term. The board met following the annual meeting and voted on the officers for 2022, who will take office on January 1. The slate of officers is:

Becky Scaringe        President
Laurie Stevenson    Vice President
Ken Buckel.                Secretary
Peter Pullen.              Treasurer
Angelika Hamilton  Director

Lawrence Robert MacAlister was born in Worcester, Mass., in 1935, and grew up to be a Renaissance man, tuning his skills in a variety of careers. An engineer who graduated from MIT, he also raced cars (including an early Carroll Shelby Cobra) and motorcycles, earning trophies that he discarded along the way. For a while he worked for the Atomic Energy Commission, delving into the properties of heavy water, a field that influenced his entrepreneurial efforts in later life. He spent many years as a general contractor, building communities, shopping centers, and commercial buildings in Massachusetts, Florida and North Carolina. And in the middle of that career, he took several years off to be a charter boat captain in Cape Cod.

When he moved with his wife Carol to Sun City Center, he didn’t quite retire, reactivating his general contractor’s license and lending his expertise to a variety of projects. He also returned to painting, one of his early loves, and earned Best of Show in the very first art show he entered locally. And he became a Pelican Player, serving as vice president and acting in the mainstage production of “Angel Street,” as well as in Reader’s Theatre and variety shows.

Lawrence passed away September 23, 2020. In addition to his wife, he leaves three children, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Photo and tribute courtesy of Carol MacAlister 11-29-2020

Our association is fortunate to have residents who have volunteered and added so much to the Sun City Center community over the years. Not mentioned in the article is that in the early years of Wedgewood, Norma served on the board as a director and secretary, and also serve on the ACC. Thank you to Norma and Dallas for all they have given to our community.

If you missed the article in the paper, click on the image below to enlarge it for readability.