Alachua County Commission passes farmworker housing and school zone speed enforcement ordinances

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the November 12 Alachua County Commission meeting, the board gave 8% raises to the County Attorney and County Manager, selected the top three companies to provide broadband services to unserved and underserved areas, approved a Vision Zero resolution, and passed ordinances regulating farmworker housing and authorizing speed enforcement cameras in school zones.

Support for the City of Archer

A letter from William Lewandowski was read during public comment, asking the County to provide temporary accounting and land use planning support to the City of Archer. According to Lewandowski, Archer has now declared a financial emergency and has dismissed its City Manager, and the bookkeeper also resigned on October 31; he wrote that the City is in debt to the federal government for $178,000 and “is missing the key personnel needed to address the significant issues at hand properly.” He said he was “very concerned that Archer may lose its Charter.” He said the City also needs help with land use and planning.

After public comment, Commissioner Mary Alford asked staff to research the request to help the City of Archer and made a motion to “ask staff to find out” what is needed unless they already knew what could be done.

County Attorney Sylvia Torres said the County had previously made an offer to the City to help with land use and planning and that the citizens who wrote the letter are not representatives of the City. She said she has heard rumors that the state may be getting involved with “at least the City’s financial side… and I would want to see that, too, before we get involved.”

Alford said there are also citizens in Archer who “are looking to recall City Commissioners, based on the fact that they didn’t fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities. So given all of that, it is kind of very much up in the air.” She said she would like staff to “stand ready to help the City of Archer” and asked the citizens to meet with City of Archer officials so that requests come from the City itself.

Commissioner Anna Prizzia made a motion to send a Chair letter saying the County is ready to support the City and that they would like copies of any documents relevant to the issues, along with updates about steps the City is taking and also direct staff to stay up to date on what is happening on both financial and growth management issues. The motion passed unanimously.

Florence landfill

Also during public comment, three women asked the County Commission to “step up and get the [Florence] Landfill closed sooner,” “step up and pursue every avenue that is available to you, to get us some relief,” and “initiate a closure plan” for the landfill. 

After public comment, Commissioner Ken Cornell asked Torres to provide an update on the Florence Landfill, and Torres said the extension of the closure date is uncertain: “There are arguments that [the extension period for Hurricane Nicole] could be less, and there are arguments that that extension period could be more.” She said the statute was amended recently and “has not been interpreted.” She advised the Commission “not to take a stand at this point” so her office could “continue to make the best arguments for you, that we not take a position on when that will expire until it’s time to take that position.”

Cornell said he would like the discuss the landfill at a future meeting, start planning for its closure, and “kind of give some clear direction and some clarity to the citizens that continue… bringing this up.” He made a motion to direct staff to place the issue on an agenda (either a policy meeting or a board meeting) within 60 days. The motion passed unanimously.

County Manager and County Attorney evaluations and salary increases

Assistant County Manager Heather Akpan presented the evaluations for the County Manager and County Attorney and said the average for County Manager Michele Lieberman was 4.9 out of 5, and the average for Torres was 4.96. The staff recommendation was to approve the performance evaluations and a 6% cost of living salary increase (the standard amount for County employees this year), along with any merit increase Commissioners supported.

Cornell made a motion to approve the recommendation with a 2% merit increase on top of the 6% cost of living increase. The motion passed unanimously. After the vote, Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler, a member of the Canvassing Board, left for a Canvassing Board meeting.

Ranking for broadband services to unserved and underserved areas

Assistant County Manager Tommy Crosby presented the rankings of companies that submitted proposals for a $14 million contract to deploy broadband to unserved and underserved areas in the county. Windstream was ranked first, followed by Cox, Pavlov Media, and IBT Group USA. The staff recommendation was to authorize staff to negotiate with the top three companies. 

Prizzia pointed out that Pavlov and Windstream “did not fully respond to the cost and affordability piece of things,… and I guess Cox did. But Cox also seemed to ask for more money than we were actually offering… So I feel like we’re moving forward with something that isn’t going to actually necessarily deliver what it is we’re trying to achieve, which is reliable and affordable internet for our outlying areas.”

Crosby said her assessment was accurate, but staff is asking “just to enter negotiations… If they can’t get there, then we will discontinue those and go to number two. That’s why we asked for the latitude to negotiate with the top three.”

Prizzia said, “Given our goal of climate action planning and trying to think about the severity and the intensity of the storms that we’ve been seeing, I think we need to start undergrounding our utilities the best that we can.” Crosby said that was “a much more expensive proposition… So where it’s plausible, we will, but I don’t want somebody to think we’re committing to running it all underground because I don’t think our dollars will go far enough to achieve our goals.” 

Cornell made a motion to approve the ranking and said he had realized during Commissioners’ speeches that morning “how the world is changing and how the previous federal administration said we want to put fiber basically to the door of every home by the end of 2027, and if that changes, then we have to adapt. You know, I’m hearing there may not be EV, there may not be that investment in federal funds, and I think if we can’t leverage that money, we’re going to have a lot of needs, and $14 million is a lot of money… I’m not ready to just write a big check until I see their proposal. For me, reliability is important, but if it’s not affordable, then they’re not going to keep it.”

In response to a question during public comment on the motion, Cornell said the funds came from the County’s ARPA allocation. 

The motion passed unanimously.

Vision Zero Resolution

The board next approved a Vision Zero Resolution, a commitment to zero traffic-related fatalities and zero severe injuries related to traffic by 2045. The resolution also includes an interim goal of a 50% reduction in traffic fatalities and severe injuries by 2035. According to the resolution, there were 274 roadway fatalities between 2016 and 2020. 

Cornell made the motion to approve the resolution.

Prizzia said, “I think by setting a reasonable and achievable timeline, this gives us the opportunity, with the Bike Pedestrian Master Plan, the Mobility Plan, and our goals around capital improvements with the Wild Spaces Public Places, to actually achieve our vision zero.”

The motion passed unanimously.

Budget amendments to allocate $1 million for Mill Creek watershed and $100k to appeal At-Large District decision

The board unanimously approved budget amendments to implement direction it previously gave to staff to set aside $1 million to provide consultant services to review the Mill Creek watershed and $100,000 for legal costs to appeal a temporary injunction against the At-Large Voting Referendum. The funds will come from County reserves.

Regarding the referendum, Cornell said the voters “overwhelmingly said that the form of government that they want the County Commission to have is at-large, and I would hope that Senator Perry reviews those results and withdraws his lawsuit… I think this is an appropriate use of public funds.”

Mobile Integrated Health Team

Alachua County Fire Rescue Chief Harold Theus introduced the new Mobile Integrated Health Team, which will include a case manager, a mental health counselor, a peer support counselor, a Captain of Mobile Integrated Health, and an EMT and paramedic. He said the program is funded through a state grant, so there are “no Alachua County taxpayer dollars that are going toward this community health team.”

Theus said the program will focus on post-emergency medical services intervention, substance abuse management, and care coordination under one umbrella.  

Kincaid Loop

During public comment earlier in the meeting, one man said the community around the planned Kincaid Loop “has never been polled” and “my family, my friends, and myself are not satisfied with this loop.” A second man said the “routing of the trail is kind of a problem” because of traffic across the trail. 

Following a presentation on the factors that went into the design of the Kincaid Loop, Alford described the fears of two different neighborhoods (Audubon Park and neighborhoods along the Archer Braid) when they learned that a trail was planned and said those fears were unfounded: “Over time, they found out that their property values went up by having that trail in their back yard and that they did not see an increase in crime. They did not see an increase in negative things happening… I’ve lived in two neighborhoods where that has happened, and it has been a positive change in the neighborhood… I do hear your fears, but I have lived through those and have found that, in my experience, they weren’t justified and that the property increases in value were real.”

Cornell agreed, “I hear you guys as well. I hear you loud and clear… I think these facilities… will be utilized a lot.”

Farmworker housing ordinance

The board adopted an ordinance regulating farmworker housing. Mehdi Benkhatar with Alachua County Growth Management said the amendments put in provisions for the maximum and minimum number of rooms, the kinds of housing that are allowed (barrack-style housing would not be allowed), the maximum number of residents, the minimum number of bathrooms, the minimum square feet per resident, and other requirements such as laundry, a functioning air conditioning system, and recreational space. 

Prizzia thanked staff for their work on the ordinance: “I think this is a real example of how we can build policy with community groups and listen to the organizations that are closest to this issue and listen to the stakeholders, listen to the farmers, and find common ground, and find a balance and create something that’s going to make a big difference in people’s lives. And I think from an economic development standpoint, it’s a win for us because if we build quality farmworker housing, it’ll be easier for us to attract the farmworkers that we need here in Alachua County as we continue to protect agricultural lands and think about investing in the agricultural sector as a big part of our economic development.”

Alford agreed, “As we look at possible deportation of a lot of farmworkers that are providing this work, I believe that having good quality housing is going to make a real difference and make us much more competitive in the farming market.”

The motion to approve the ordinance passed unanimously.

School zone speed enforcement cameras

The last item of business was an ordinance to permit speed enforcement cameras in school zones. 

After some discussion about whether they should wait until the new Sheriff is sworn in to move forward, Lieberman pointed out that this “just puts the option in place without requiring us to do anything with it.” Apparently referring to Sheriff Emery Gainey’s plan to start with a small number of schools to see how much it will cost to implement the cameras, Alford added, “I do hope that the new Sheriff can move this along just a little bit faster.” The motion to approve the ordinance passed unanimously.