Alachua County Commission awards $14 million for rural broadband, selects sculpture for court complex, revises direction on new maps for County Commission districts

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their May 13 meeting, the Alachua County Commission awarded $14 million in ARPA funds to Windstream for rural broadband; selected a sculpture for the new court complex; and approved funding for County bus service with a request to the City of Gainesville to add weekend service for GRACE Marketplace. During County Manager and Commission Comments, they agreed to discuss a request for funds from the City of Archer on May 27; discussed a 24-hour childcare pilot program for first responders; signaled a desire to allocate more money to the literacy effort the board approved on April 21; revised direction on redistricting; and asked staff to find out why Sid Martin Park is in disrepair.

Rural broadband award

During the adoption of the regular and consent agendas, a Windstream Florida representative thanked the County for the broadband deployment grant agreement that was set to be approved on the consent agenda. Windstream’s application was ranked the highest of the four applicants (Windstream Florida, COX Florida Telcom, Pavlov Media, and IBT Group USA) for a $14 million award to “deliver reliable internet to unserved and underserved areas in Alachua County.” The agreement covers four target areas: East Waldo & Earleton, Island Grove, the northwest corner of Alachua County, and South High Springs.

The funds were allocated in 2022 from American Rescue Plan Act funds. 

The Windstream representative said, “Expanding broadband, especially in rural areas, is Windstream’s top priority. We’re investing both our own capital, utilizing public-private partnerships such as this one, to accelerate our fiber expansion efforts. We’re excited to collaborate with the County to construct over 400 miles of buried fiber, reaching over 4,800 locations across the county.” He said Windstream will invest nearly $23 million into fiber network assets and expects to start construction in the coming months.

Sculpture for the new court complex 

The board selected “Justice for All” by David Allan Clark from the three submittals for a sculpture for the new court complex. The sculpture will be made of bronze.

Commissioner Ken Cornell made the motion to select the David Allan Clark submission, and Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, with Commissioner Mary Alford absent.

County bus service

The board heard a presentation on three options for County bus service, and staff noted that there is no longer weekend service on Route 26 to GRACE Marketplace; if the County Commission wanted to fund that, it would be $100,000. Route 25 used to provide that service, but it was discontinued in January as part of changes in UF’s funding of routes. Route 26 goes to GRACE but does not run on weekends.

Staff recommended an option that increases services outside the urbanized area (via MV Transport) and increases the County’s contribution for the Fare Free Program (free rides for those under 18 and over 65 years of age), for the same cost as the current (FY25) contract, $1.9 million. 

Cornell said he thought the City should fund weekend service to GRACE: “I mean, that’s a City facility, right?… I’m kind of confused as to why that’s not on the City’s radar.”

Commissioner Anna Prizzia said she thought it was important to have weekend bus service to the airport, too, but she thought it should be a City service; she suggested adding the topic to the upcoming joint meeting with the Gainesville City Commission.

One of the options presented by staff included a micromobility point-to-point service in the Jonesville area, and Prizzia said she wasn’t ready to fund that yet, but she wanted staff to research the options and best practices for providing transportation to rural areas. 

Cornell made a two-part motion to approve the staff’s recommendation and ask the City to fund the weekend route for GRACE and the airport and then schedule the discussion of that for the joint meeting if the City does not fund it. Prizzia added a request to have a conversation at a Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization meeting about a study for rural transit options, and Cornell later added a fourth part specifying that the contract should be for one year instead of two years.

The motion passed unanimously, with Alford absent.

Request from the City of Archer for funds

During County Manager comments, County Manager Michele Lieberman said she had sent a letter to Commissioners from the City of Archer, asking for two things: immediate access to $253,000 in infrastructure surtax funds and placement of its request for approval on the County Commission’s May 27 meeting.

The letter explains that the City of Archer owes about $290,000 to its engineers for work done on water and wastewater projects over the past 12 months, and the engineers are unable to continue work without receiving “substantial payment” on the invoices. The City wrote that the permit application process must be completed by the end of the month.

The County has already approved $253,000 in infrastructure surtax funds for Archer, but each project has to be approved by the board and the funds are supposed to be reimbursed at the end of the project. Archer Mayor Fletcher Hope wrote that if the permit deadline is missed, the City could lose the ability to complete the wastewater project, which “would lead to default on at least one multi-million-dollar interlocal agreement and the $13 million [FDEP] grant. In addition, failure to accomplish this project would likely result in the City having insufficient funds to retain its charter.”

Lieberman said the deadline for adding items to the May 27 agenda has passed and added, “In the surtax ordinance, we cannot front that money.” She said the County could lend Archer the money and then reimburse itself when the project is complete instead of giving the surtax money to Archer. She added, “Of course, we would have to make sure it’s even an eligible expense under the surtax and that it was something that met the requirements for you guys to do that.”

Wheeler made a motion to put it on the agenda “for discussion,” and Prizzia seconded the motion. Wheeler said, “I just feel like we need to give them the chance to do it. They’re working really hard.”

Cornell said he was surprised to get that request when the County Commission just met with the Archer City Commission three weeks ago, and it didn’t come up. He said he wanted “a complete presentation [from the City of Archer]” about “why the urgency of the permit and then the grant and why [the engineer] hasn’t been paid and all that stuff.”

Cornell continued, “If this is an ask based on our staff and their staff answering all those questions,… fine. If this is a political ask, I don’t want it on the agenda because I need all of those questions answered before we get to the political ask. And I don’t know if two weeks is enough time.” Prizzia agreed, “I only want it on the agenda if it’s a matter of us saying yes or no.” Cornell said he would support the motion “if our staff has enough time to get those answers.”

The motion passed unanimously, with Alford absent.

24-hour child care pilot program

During Commission Comments, Cornell made a motion to ask staff to “communicate with our School Board and our Children’s Trust staff to continue to develop this idea about a potential 24-hour child care pilot program” for first responders such as firefighters. Prizzia seconded the motion.

Lieberman said her plan was to present the pilot program to the County Commission as part of their legislative agenda for next year: “There really is no ability for us to fund something [this big] on our own, if at all, so creating a pilot program that we can use to seek funding is what we were really wanting to do during this period of time.”

Prizzia said it felt “a little premature” because the topic had not come before the board yet, and Cornell withdrew his motion with the understanding that Lieberman would bring the program back to the board when she had more information about which organizations are willing to partner with the County on the pilot. 

Additional funding for the literacy effort

Cornell also said that the Children’s Trust had met and had pledged $550,000 per year for three years for a comprehensive literacy plan (click here for our article about the meeting where the County Commission pledged $250,000 for the effort), for a total of more than $1.5 million. 

Prizzia said she favored matching the $550,000 per year allocated by the Children’s Trust for literacy because “as they develop the plan,… I guess I don’t want them to feel limited. You know, we’re in it for a penny, in it for a pound… I think this is one of the most, if not the most, critical thing we can do for economic development, for upward mobility… So for me, it’s a no-brainer to continue to invest in this… I would just like to be able to say to the Children’s Trust, like, we’re here if you need more additional funds.”

Cornell agreed that he would “love for this to be in our budget, matching those dollars or increasing the $250 [thousand]… I think that this is the best shot we’ve got at really changing the direction of some of the kids’ lives that should have every opportunity that some of the other kids have.” He said he wasn’t ready to match the amount from the Children’s Trust, but he wanted staff to hear him as they develop the budget.

Revising direction on redistricting 

Cornell’s last item was to revise the direction the board provided to staff on April 22 to draw new voting districts that would mirror the overall county demographics. He made a motion to “rescind and substitute the motion regarding the Commission districts from April 22,… that we direct staff to hire a consultant to develop new proposed County Commission district maps. These new maps should include examples of different geographies, including districts that include greater breadth of county geography for each district. The consultant can utilize his or her knowledge, as well as publicly submitted maps, to develop options for the Commission. Additionally, the maps should attempt to eliminate as many split precincts as possible. These maps should be available for adoption consistent with the requirements of the state statute.”

Prizzia seconded the motion and said the maps should come back as soon as possible because “people can’t file to run for office for ’26 until they know what their district looks like.”

The motion passed unanimously, with Alford absent. Lieberman said she would not be able to bring the information back at the May 27 meeting, as previously agreed, because she will now have to find a consultant.

Sid Martin Park

Chair Chuck Chestnut showed pictures of Sid Martin Park in Waldo, which he said looked like “a dump site.” Although it’s a City park, Cornell made a motion to “refer the park and the maintenance of it to our staff to look at and bring us back recommendations.” There were multiple seconds, and the motion passed unanimously, with Alford absent.