Archer City Commission reduces meetings to one per month, shuts down Facebook page, accepts $68,732 loan from County

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

ARCHER, Fla. – At its May 27 meeting, the Archer City Commission heard from Attorney Ballou about the meeting with the County earlier that day and began making cuts by reducing Commission meetings to one per month and shutting down the City’s Facebook page. Commissioners also voted to accept a $68,732 loan from the County.

Updated flood maps

After voting 4-0 to excuse Vice Mayor Iris Bailey for being absent, the meeting began with a presentation by Leroy Marshall, Director of Resource Management at the Suwannee River Water Management District. He said he was there to discuss updated flood maps that were funded by FEMA and produced according to FEMA’s criteria. Marshall said the maps are in the “proposed” phase, and they can be reviewed and possibly changed by SRWMD engineers at no cost to the public if anyone feels the maps affecting the properties are inaccurate; once the maps are in the “preliminary” phase, after July 1, citizens must hire their own engineers if they wish to contest the maps.

Marshall said no maps of properties with structures were changed, but some maps without structures were changed. He said property owners can either come to the upcoming July 1 meeting at Bronson City Hall at 5 p.m. to review the maps, or they can go online to the flood portal on the SRWMD website, view the maps, and respond via email or comment on the website if they feel their maps need to be reviewed. 

Public comments

During public comments, Karen Fiore said she had put together a tentative 2026 City budget, and she handed copies to staff. Fiore asked, “I noticed that the last payment to Ameris Visa was back in December. Did we stop using the Visa card?” Interim City Manager Deanna Alltop said, “I won’t be answering any questions.” Mayor Fletcher Hope said, “We’ll find that out and give you an answer.”

Laurie Costello said, “We the citizens have been begging y’all for a Citizens Advisory Committee, and we should be part of the decision on spending cuts… It is about time you all start taking help from us and having us part of your decision making.”

Gene Arnold said, “Mrs. Attorney [Ballou], I have disagreed with many of your decisions, but today you had your fastball [at the County Commission meeting]. You did a fantastic job. Thank you for representing Archer like that.”

County Commission meeting

City Attorney Kiersten Ballou gave a report on what happened at the County Commission meeting that day: “So our initial request going into the Board of County Commission meeting was for $253,000 to be advanced to us through the infrastructure surtax grant program… $253,000 is the balance of the $333,000 that was initially earmarked for Archer. That’s what we had left over, so we requested initially in our letter that they advance us those funds, that we pay back those funds through the infrastructure grant, and we call it a day.”

Ballou continued, “My office was contacted by the County Attorney, who indicated that because the ordinance says that the project has to be completed prior to funds being distributed, that they were not able to [advance the money]… So with some work with the County Attorney, we came up with an alternative request, which was that we be provided a loan from the County. Our request was at zero interest, which we would secure with the infrastructure surtax grant fund…  We owe over $200,000 to Kimley-Horn. We owe about $68,000 on our water project,… and then we owe approximately $193,000 on our wastewater invoices. The $253,000 was a request so that we could cover all of those funds. The project did not enthuse the County. They were not particularly enthusiastic about the idea of a wastewater treatment plant in general.

“At the end of the day, the motion that was made was that… the Commission delegate authority to the County Manager to provide us $68,732 in a General Fund loan to the City of Archer for payment of water project invoices to Kimley-Horn. The agreement would contain 4.5% interest… If not paid in six weeks, Archer will agree to waive, release, and assign to Alachua County $68,732 of its potential surtax partnership program project funds… Now the reason that the County was willing to give us the $68,000 was because under our current grant agreement with Suwannee River Water Management District, once we pay the invoices to Kimley-Horn, Suwannee River will reimburse us.

“They indicated that they wanted the City to contact the City of Newberry Commission specifically and see if Newberry would be willing to provide the City with an interim loan in order to make up the difference…  We were given the impression that that is not something that the City [Newberry] was in support of at that moment. Obviously, City staff doesn’t make decisions for the Newberry City Commission, but it’s a good indicator… They also requested that we make an effort to finance the required funds through our Ameris Bank line of credit. So those were the alternatives that they gave us.”

Hope said he would be leaving the meeting early in order to speak at the Newberry meeting during public comment. The other Commissioners said they had been contacted by Incoming City Manager Jordan Marlowe that afternoon, who said he didn’t want an “ambush” and suggested telling Hope not to come to their meeting but to wait instead for a private meeting to address the financing. Later, after more heated discussion, Hope said, “It’s my civil right.” Commissioner Joan White said, “I feel like your obligation is to this meeting. You are the mayor of this City.” Hope said, “You don’t know until you ask.”

Mayor leaves early

Hope made a motion to table the remaining items until June 9, and Marilyn Green seconded his motion. After several more minutes of discussion, the motion failed 0-4, and Hope walked out of the meeting.

Spending cuts

Several potential ways to save money were discussed. The first idea was to surplus the Senior Center. Alltop said it is not used, is unsafe to rent, and is “just sitting there.”

Another idea was to sell City Hall and hold meetings in the Community Center. White said City Hall is not ADA-compliant and needs a lot of work, and she supported the idea. 

There was discussion about shutting down recreation programs for youth, but it wasn’t clear how much money would be saved, if any, since participants pay fees.

White brought up the topic of shutting down the City’s Facebook page. Alltop said they are required to pay fees to archive all content in accord with ADA rules, and they currently owe Facebook about $8,000. Alltop said, “I definitely think we need to stop that immediately.” Commissioner Kathy Penny said residents can use Archer Word of Mouth on Facebook to make comments about City matters.

There was discussion about closing the “splash pad” since it has been vandalized multiple times and also needs work on the pump, which will cost about $2,000. Green said the kids enjoy the splash pad, especially in the heat. 

Another idea was raising ad valorem property taxes to the maximum allowable rate. White said she isn’t willing to raise taxes as long as Commissioners are receiving their $500 monthly paychecks. She suggested reducing their paychecks or eliminating them altogether.

The next idea was reducing Commission meetings to once a month. Green said, “We’ve been doing them twice a month now for about a year. That has not solved, hasn’t even nearly solved our problems that we’re having. But if it’s going to cut down on some expenses, maybe the electricity or whatever expense, I’m in agreement with that as well.” 

Motions

After more discussion, Green made a motion to shut down Archer’s Facebook page, and White seconded the motion. It passed 4-0, with Vice Mayor Iris Bailey having recently arrived to the meeting.

Green made a motion to reduce Commission meetings to one time each month, and White seconded the motion. Alltop said money could be saved on cleaning expenses and the audio/video technician who records the videos. 

During public comment on the motion, Laurie Costello said she favored keeping meetings twice monthly out of respect for citizens. Karen Fiore said they shouldn’t be having these discussions without having real numbers attached to them. Geraldine Robinson McMiller suggested cutting employee weekly hours from 40 to 30 and cutting salaries instead of going to once-monthly meetings. Roberta Lopez stressed that a Citizens Advisory Board is badly needed.

The motion to reduce meetings to once monthly, effective immediately, passed 3-1.

Accepting the County’s loan

Ballou said they needed to make a motion to accept the $68,732 loan from the County. White made a motion, and Penny seconded the motion. 

During public comment on the motion, some members of the public questioned the integrity of Kimley-Horn and all the accumulated bills. 

The motion passed 4-0.

Final public comments

During final public comments, Rhonda Roberson asked, “This is the second meeting this month after 9:00 p.m. So how long is that one meeting going to last?”

Two speakers were in favor of keeping recreation programs for children.