The June 27, 2017 Board of County Commission meeting was Commissioner John Mitten’s final meeting sitting in for Commissioner Holcomb. Commissioner Holcomb will officially resume his term one second after midnight June 28, 2017.
Fellow commissioners thanked John Mitten for his service and dedication while he served on the board and stated that they look forward to being able to discuss issues with him on the other side of the fence.
County Administrator Len Sossamon said that he was appreciative of the “philosophical standpoint” that Mitten provided. He often required deeper explanation of the issue such as why does state law have to do something, not just blindly accepting state law.
Attorney Garth Coller recalled fondly scheduled meetings with Mitten that often went two hours longer than allotted, because both would play “Devil’s Advocate” on the numerous issues they discussed.
Commissioner Mitten expressed,
“It has indeed been a privilege and an honor to serve. When you are called to do a duty, you do it and you go to the next thing. I think that’s how I’ve approached this. It has been a pleasant journey the last three and a half months to work with these commissioners…”
He continued, “It’s fun to a certain extent. There’s a great deal of work that goes into this. I appreciate the recognition. I appreciate the words, but I tell you many are called for jury duty and the Governor called me for county commission duty, but these pale in comparison to the duty that Commissioner Holcomb was called to… This story is really about Commissioner Holcomb and those in our Armed Forces. It’s been an honor to be able to participate on behalf of them.”
Richard Sanvenero, Chair of the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce said that the business community is very proud of Mitten and his “statesmanship” will be missed. June 27th, was Sanvenero’s last day as Chair of the Chamber of Commerce. He also congratulated Commissioner Holcomb on his safe return.
Commissioner Holcomb addressed Commissioner Mitten and described how there’s certain people that run to danger while the majority run the other way. He commended Commissioner Mitten for running toward “political danger,” saying that there are not too many people who would do that.
He also stated that because he knew Mitten was on the Board, he could rest easy.
“Your service helped me do my service… I could sleep at night because I knew you were here. “
Holcomb gifted Mitten a flag that was flown on a KC 135 tanker, that serviced an F-16 which was likely involved in action over the Achin district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, bordering northwest Pakistan.. It was here where the “Mother of All Bombs” was deployed on April 13th. Holcomb explained that the flag was flown on March 1, 2017. “It was fueling an F-16. I don’t know what that F 16 did, but I know where it may have been. It may have been in the same place where we dropped the MOAB because that’s the place where we’ve been involved with… and probably still are right now… That’s obviously an important place to be. That’s where ISIS is in Afghanistan, so I want to honor you and your service here and hopefully you’ll find a nice place for this…”
Gus Guadagnino told Mitten that Mitten will likely have many offers when he leaves the Commission. He said, “I want to give you the best opportunity. We’d love to have you on the board for K9 Partners for Patriots.”