April 10, 2019, Copy of Letter to FLHSMV Requesting Driver License Services for Gilchrist County.  
In the meeting referred to in the letter, we discussed the possibility of donated equipment to the County as well as other items mentioned in the letter below:

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April 10, 2019

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Sharon Watson,
Program Manager, Tax Collector Support

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Good afternoon Sharon,

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We had an outstanding meeting today with Maureen Johnson, our Tax Collector Liaison. 

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As you know, the Honorable Barbara Merritt CFC has retired, I am the Interim / Assistant Tax Collector for Gilchrist County until the Appointment by the Honorable Governor Ron DeSantis.

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My purpose for writing to you today is to express my interest in taking on driver license services in Gilchrist County. I have received daily inquiries from our citizens requesting that this service be made available to the county.

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We are a small county and on a very small budget, I would like to request if at all possible, that we might have some equipment donated to us to enable Gilchrist County to get up and running with DL Services.  We will cover the cost of finger printing, and the updating of the security cameras.  Listed below are the minimum to maximum stations that we could set up. If at all possible, I am requesting 5 stations.

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4 – 5      scanners                                                              4 – 5      signature pads
1             eye testing machine                                        1              camera
1              camera screen                                                  2             printers
1             testing center if equipment is necessary and any other equipment required not listed.

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We have visited the Honorable Michelle Cannon in Dixie County, her office size is similar to our own. I know that we can make this work.  The current population for Gilchrist County is 17,191, we are also centrally located to the cities of Gainesville, High Springs, Newberry, Branford and Chiefland.  Our office will have an open-door policy to provide the availability of driver license to all customers.

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I would want to start out by excluding the non-immigrant and the department re-exams (medical), this will be something we will add in the future.  We also have an adequate area in close proximity to the courthouse to perform the driving test, also Gilchrist County Schools have the Driver Education Program and their instructor is DELAP Certified.

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We look forward to partnering with your department to provide this invaluable service to our citizens.

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Respectfully,

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Terry E. Trail CFCA,
Interim Tax Collector
Gilchrist County

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Monday April 15th, 2020 an email to the Honorable Ben Anderson, who fully initiated #TAX for the entire State of Florida (From his about page: Ben is active in the Florida Tax Collector’s Association where he’s held numerous positions. Most notably he was the President where he championed various initiatives, including #TAX (829) which is an abbreviated dialing code for mobile phones. #TAX makes it easier for over 20 million Floridians to reach their nearest Tax Collector office.), Tax Collector of Okaloosa County and President of the Tax Collector Association of Florida, concerning the status of the office Drivers License and Concealed Weapons:

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“…In the meantime, I have been working on bringing in Driver Licenses services and in the near future will also incorporate Concealed Weapons in our office.  I tentatively have an appointment with Sharon Watson and Robbie Phillips for April 26th, as we have re-organized our office in order to make these services available to our citizens.  Mrs. Watson did say that we could start the ball rolling with the DL services, however, we could not actually be signed on with them until the appointment. …”

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