Two Hillsborough County judges have been selected as leaders in the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council of Boy Scouts of America, according to a news release.
Judge Thomas Palermo will serve as chairman of the Fort Brook District, one of nine districts in the council. Judge Michael Bagge-Hernandez will serve as vice chairman.
The district encompasses the western half and northern half of Hillsborough County.
Palermo, appointed as a judge in 2019, lives in South Tampa and grew up in the Carrollwood area. The former American University Student Body President and Jesuit High School alumnus earned his law degree in 2001 from Florida State University College of Law.
He is married to Brittany Palermo. They have one son, a Webelo Scout in St. John’s Episcopal Church’s Cub Scout Pack 23, where Palermo is an assistant cubmaster and den leader.
Palermo’s son’s love for Scouting was one reason he became the district chairman.
In his role as chairman of the district, which has more than 90 Scouting units and serves more than 2,500 youth, he hopes to recruit and rebuild units as participation has been affected by the COVID-19 virus.
Bagge-Hernandez became a judge January 2020, after working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Puerto Rico and in the Middle District of Florida, the news release says.
A former Cub Scout at St. Mary’s Episcopal Day School, the Jesuit High School alumnus graduated from Stetson College of Law in 2007. A north Hillsborough County resident, he is married and has two young children, who he wants to enroll in Scouts when older.
“I accepted the position as vice chair in hopes to give back to the organization that did so much for me,” Bagge-Hernandez.
His goal, he said, is to support the organization in rebuilding from a difficult year.
The Greater Tampa Bay Area Council (GTBAC) is a local council in western Florida chartered by the Boy Scouts of America. The Council encompasses nine counties and serves more than 15,000 youth in 189 Cub Scout packs, 192 Boy Scout and Varsity Scout troops, 36 Venturing Crews and five Sea Scout Ships. In addition to the Lewis Hill III Service Center, located at 13228 N. Central Ave. in Tampa, the GTBAC maintains six camp properties: Camp Owen J. Brorein in Odessa, Camp Soule in Clearwater, Flaming Arrow Scout Reservation in Lake Wales, Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Brooksville, Big Foot Wilderness Camp in the Green Swamp, and Camp Alafia along the Alafia River in Lithia.
Published January 20, 2021
