The controversial structure described as a "barn", owned by state Sen. Charlie Dean, cropped up at Tuesday's county commission meeting.

The issue was raised by Hernando resident Jeff Huff, who said he first read about it in the local newspaper.

"It's got a kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms. There's no way it's a barn," Huff argued.

"It is agriculturally exempt property," said Gary Maidhof, Director of Development Services. He said the issue would be better addressed at the state level, and not the local area. "The state statute specifically exempts this structure," he said. The statute is more broad than allowed under the state's Farm Act, which is a different piece of legislation, Maidhof said.

Dean's property is along the Withlacoochee River, east of Inverness.

Another resident, Bob Schweickurt, referred to dean as "the messiah," and claimed that Dean "went to the top" by meeting with Maidhof one-on-one, and then Schweickurt asked that the matter be looked into. Commissioner John Thrumston suggested Maidhof meet with the Schweickurt, but Schweickurt later called for a State Attorney General's opinion on the legality of Dean's building. He also invoked the Freedom of Information Act, and asked the county for copies of communications between Sen. Dean and the county.

Maidhof said the Legislature changed the statute at the behest of the Attorney General who was in office at the time the original statute was re-drafted, the end result being the statute was actually made more broad that it previously had been.

"This is a product of the state Legislature," Maidhof said. "It clearly needs clarification, he said. "It's clearly a gray zone. It's not a matter of having a pig in your house. It has to be for agriculture."

Commissioner Thrumston said Dean is being dragged through the mud needlessly, and that in a conversation he had on Tuesday morning with Dean that the senator said he nothing to hide. Thrumston said the county didn't do due diligience when it heard of the issue, and that the county never contacted the senator to clarify the issue. Thrumston said that wasn't fair to the senator.

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