THE VILLAGES - The board in charge of major purchases for The Villages is looking at the possibility of buying a private utility from an ownership group that includes the retirement community's developer and one of the board members who may vote on the transaction.

Under an exemption in Florida law governing voting conflicts, the situation of a community development district supervisor voting on the purchase of a company in which he has a business interest is completely legal.

A section of Florida Statute 112 prohibits county and city commissioners from taking part in any vote which could bring them, their employer or a business associate potential financial gain. But supervisors for community development districts, such as the Village Center District, are allowed to vote on issues in which they or their employers have a financial interest. That is the situation with the possible acquisition of Little Sumter Utility, which has 8,811 water customers and 8,436 wastewater customers spread out in areas of The Villages in Sumter and Marion counties, according to a 2002 report to the state.

That annual report lists Village Center Community Development District supervisor John Wise as the company's chief financial officer and the holder of a 5 percent ownership interest. As the utility's treasurer, Wise also signed off on the data the company filed with the state, which lists Villages developer Gary H. Morse as a 12 percent owner with another 36 percent ownership interest divided among three family trusts.

Wise, who works for Morse's company Villages of Lake-Sumter Inc., has been a Village Center district supervisor since December 1993. He did not return two phone messages left at his office seeking comment.

Overall, the Village Center board is comprised of four Villages of Lake-Sumter employees and one representative from Citizens First Bank, a business located in the Villages Town Square.

Joe Gorman, president of the Property Owners' Association of the Villages, said the ties between the developer and Village Center district supervisors have fueled his group's effort to reform state laws governing community development districts. The community development districts are governing bodies provided for in state law with supervisors elected by property owners on a one-vote-per-one-acre of land basis. But Gorman said that because the developer is the majority property owner in the Village Center district, Villages residents do not have input on major purchases made by Village Center supervisors because the developer is the majority property owner in that district.

"That's a real irritant," Gorman said. "One of the big things we complain about here in The Villages is the VCCDD makes all the big business decisions for The Villages and uses our resident fees to pay the debt on the money they borrow, but all five supervisors are either business associated or employees of the developer."

Gorman said for two consecutive years the Villages Property Owners' Association and the Florida Silver Haired Legislature, a senior citizens' rights group which holds a mock legislative session in Tallahassee, have pushed the sState Legislature to subject community development district supervisors to conflict of interest provisions in state law and give residents more influence over board actions.

"Both years, the reform measures we've put down have gone nowhere," he said.

Villages resident Tom Poss, area chairman for the Florida Silver Haired Legislature, said the group is already building for another effort in the 2004 session.

"The state needs a complete overhaul to give the power back to the people," Poss said. "Maybe the residents would vote to buy the things the VCCDD does from the developer. But we have no say in it."

Last week, the Village Center District Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to hire an outside consultant, at a cost not to exceed $45,000, to compile an independent financial analysis of the value of Little Sumter Utility.

Village Center Administrator Pete Wahl said bringing on the consultant was standard procedure to comply with state laws governing purchasing procedures for community development districts and had nothing to do with Wise's connection to the utility.

"We always use an outside financial adviser when looking at acquisition of a business unit," Wahl said. "The state has certain guidelines and it's just good business sense to do this."

Wahl added that the district was in the "very, very very preliminary stages" of any possible purchase, with no timetable yet set for the consultant to complete the analysis. He said the purchase of Little Sumter would give Villages residents a public utility subject to state open record laws and bring a state of "permanence."

"With the government of the district providing the service, it will always be there for residents," Wahl said.

Florida Public Service Commission spokesman Kevin Bloom said that state agency regulating utilities must approve any sale of Little Sumter. But Bloom said the state would have no jurisdiction over the sale price.

"It's a private sale," he said. "The value is determined by market value."

According to Little Sumter's 2002 report to the Public Service Commission, the company has approximately $38.6 million in assets and $21.9 million in total long term debt.