High Springs City Commission selects Weitz as Mayor, Grunder as Vice Mayor; City Manager tenders resignation amid criticism
Edited at 11 a.m. on 11/18 to remove information about who seconded Grunder’s nomination as Vice Mayor. It is often difficult to hear who seconded a motion when watching a streamed meeting, and there is disagreement on who seconded that motion.
BY DAVID LIGHTMAN
HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – At the November 16 High Springs City Commission Regular Meeting, new Commissioners Andrew Miller and Steven Tapanes were sworn in, Katherine Weitz was selected as Mayor, and Tristan Grunder was selected as Vice Mayor.
During the meeting, a $350,000 solid waste contract discrepancy was discovered under City Manager Ashley Stathatos’s watch, along with other questions about the budget, and Stathatos tendered her letter of resignation after the meeting ended.
In other business, Duke Energy was denied approval for plans to have five electric vehicle chargers downtown.
Closing out the previous legislative year before adjourning the 2022-23 Commission
To close out the 2022-2023 legislative year, the Commission addressed an item of unfinished business: an agreement with RedSpeed for traffic cameras in the school zone. Police Chief J. Antoine Sheppard recommended proceeding with the agreement in order to have the attorneys develop an ordinance for a future hearing. No members of the public spoke. Commissioner Katherine Weitz made a motion to approve the professional services agreement with RedSpeed, and Commissioner Tristan Grunder seconded the motion. After a unanimous vote, Mayor Gloria James announced, “Agreement approved.”
Acting on a suggestion from James, Commissioner Ross Ambrose made a motion to adjourn the 2022-2023 Commission. Grunder seconded the motion, and James said, “Meeting adjourned.”
Stathatos presented James with a plaque for outstanding leadership and service as Mayor for the years of 2022 and 2023 “on behalf of the High Springs City Commission and Staff, and the Citizens of High Springs.” All of the Commissioners stood and applauded except Ambrose, who remained seated and clapped.
Swearing in new Commissioners, selecting the new Mayor and Vice Mayor
Newly-elected Commissioners Andrew Miller and Steven Tapanes were administered oaths of office. Stathatos announced, “I would like to now call to order the 2023-2024 City Commission… I would like to accept nominations and elect the Mayor.” Grunder nominated Weitz as Mayor, and Tapanes seconded the nomination. Weitz was unanimously elected Mayor.
After assuming the Mayor’s chair, Weitz announced, “Our next item on the agenda is accepting nominations to elect a Vice Mayor.” Tapanes nominated Grunder, and Grunder was elected by a unanimous vote.
Weitz gave the newly-elected Commissioners a chance to comment. Miller said, “I just want to thank everybody that has supported me. This journey has been very rewarding. I thought I knew a lot of people in High Springs, but I found out that I haven’t known half of them. But I thank you all so much for your support and just pushing me, ’cause I wouldn’t be here without you all, so thank you so much.”
Tapanes said, “I, as well, want to thank all of you and… everybody that supported me and helped me go through this journey. My family, my wife especially, putting up with me throughout this whole thing. But I really do appreciate it, and we’re going to do the best that we can for this city.”
Complaint about water during General Public Comment
During General Public Comment, Sandy Gardner mentioned that her tap water contains black gunk or sludge that clogs her faucets and even her hot water heater. She said Eric Wills from the EPA tested her water and told her, “We should not be drinking it, that we shouldn’t even be giving it to our dog.” Gardner said a man named Jason from the High Springs Water Department came out and told her, “The only reason that we have this problem is because my husband and I don’t use enough water, and so there’s not enough of a flow to bring the chlorine from the road into the house.” She said she didn’t accept that as a valid answer, and she added, “It’s just disgusting, and I don’t think anybody in a house in America should be living where they can’t drink the water.” After some discussion between the Mayor, Commissioners, and staff, it was decided to refer Gardner to a program that will allow her to flush her lines at no extra cost for the additional water used.
Following tradition, the newly-elected Commissioners were named to the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) Board. Miller was unanimously made Chair, and Tapanes was unanimously made Vice Chair.
Audit reports postponed
Representatives from James Moore and Co. were unable to attend the meeting to present the Fiscal Year 2022 City and CRA Audits because, according to staff, “(at the) very last minute something happened.” As a result, Weitz rescheduled the agenda items for the November 28 meeting.
Water, sewer, and solid waste rates
Ordinance 2023-14 was introduced, increasing rates for water, sewer, and solid waste. The staff member said the new smart meters (AMI) should help bring in additional revenue because they will be replacing many inaccurate or “dead” meters that have been undercharging customers, but the exact amount of revenue increase remains uncertain. She said, “I never like to come to the Commission and say we have to do something, but we have to do something. If we don’t raise the rates at all, unless AMI comes in way higher than we think, we won’t have enough money to operate for the year. And I’m not saying that to be dramatic. I just want you to completely understand where we are. If AMI does better, wonderful, we can make adjustments. We can look and see where we are. We can build reserves… I don’t want to bet on that. I want to be conservative.” She mentioned the one-year delay in implementing the AMI technology as a major reason for needing the rate increase (see slide below).
The staff member stated that approximately $650,000 in additional revenue is needed to cover increased Sewer costs (see slide below).
Solid waste deficit was hidden from the Commission
She also said that approximately $550,000 in additional revenue is needed for increased solid waste costs. She explained the majority of this need can be attributed to an extra $350,000 in costs since May, when the City switched solid waste providers from the cheaper GFL to the more-reliable Waste Pro but did not increase the rates to customers. The staff member said, “On the residential side, we don’t have that issue as much as on the dumpster side. On the dumpster side, there are some dumpsters that are billed twice as much as what we billed our customers.” (see slide below.)
Stathatos said, “To kind of explain why we didn’t do the increases sooner, that was because we expected AMI to come on sooner, and that we thought the increased revenues would enable us not to have to raise rates possibly. In addition, we thought some… developer was going to come on sooner… develop new development… and hit the tax rolls… So that’s why we didn’t recommend an increase sooner.”
Weitz asked, “So we were spending $70,000 more per month for the first five months of that (solid waste) contract. But we were told… that they were going to honor the same price. So why were we paying $350,000 more, and that’s all our reserves right there? How did that happen?”
Stathatos answered, “The majority of that was… we were subsidizing commercial [customers].”
“We were told that when they assumed the contract, they would honor their prices. Their price for a residential can went up 85%. Why didn’t we know that?” – Mayor Katherine Weitz
Weitz continued, “They weren’t charging us the same residential. We were told that when they assumed the contract, they would honor their prices. Their price for a residential can went up 85%. Why didn’t we know that?”
The staff member said the negotiating team had been provided that information.
Weitz asked City Attorney Scott Walker if it was not apparent to his team that the contract was not as specified, but he did not answer. Stathatos responded, “I’m ultimately responsible as the City Manager. I was a little part, a part of those negotiations… I should have looked harder because I left it (with) other people.”
Weitz turned again to Walker and said that he would have been involved in the contract negotiations. Walker responded, “We did not negotiate that. We reviewed the contract… And I’m happy to go back to the minutes, and what was said and what was represented by Waste Pro. And if we can establish that, and then what they’ve charged, and bring that to their attention, I’m happy to do that.”
Tapanes asked, “Who did negotiate that contract?” Stathatos responded, “The City Manager’s office did. The Assistant City Manager was primarily in charge. Ultimately, I oversee everything.”
Weitz suggested offering other waste collection alternatives to customers, if there are any. She said she would like for Stathatos and Walker to meet with Waste Pro and see what can be done, and she agreed with Tapanes that it is premature to pass costs on to customers at this point. Weitz emphasized, “My biggest question right now is–we were told Waste Pro is going to honor GFL’s rates through the end of the contract that ended in the fiscal year, and then they would have to raise them a little bit… That did not happen. That’s my biggest question right now. $350,000 later, we have no reserve.”
Stathatos responded, “The only thing I know to do is to go back to Waste Pro right now and try to renegotiate what we can with them. That’s the only thing I know how to do.”
“Sitting here, I asked a question: Will the rates go up? And I was told ‘No. Rates is going to stay the same.’ That was told to us.” – Commissioner Byran Williams
Commissioner Byran Williams said, “Sitting here, I asked a question: Will the rates go up? And I was told ‘No. Rates is going to stay the same.’ That was told to us.”
Grunder added, “We definitely weren’t told we were going to be paying $70,000 a month to keep the rates the way they were.”
“People are not doing their jobs”
Weitz asked for comments from the public. A woman who did not give her name said, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing because, all of a sudden, tonight, this meeting, we owe all kinds of money. What about two weeks ago, didn’t we owe that money then? You guys, if you did your job, if you read your contracts, if you read them all the way through, and if you were there when they were signed and made sure that everybody was getting a good deal… I just think… people are not doing their jobs. They’re not doing them well, and they’re not doing them in my best interest. And I’m sick of it. There is no reason we should be at this point. This is extreme. You guys have a job, and you’re supposed to do it. You should read all your contracts… I’ve had it.”
Donald Alderman said the City should demand the return of the $350,000 already paid to Waste Pro instead of simply re-negotiating the terms moving forward.
Tapanes questioned Stathatos: “The original mistake came from us… from a lack of looking at contracts?” She responded, “I had a staff member looking at the contract, the solid waste contract, okay? So I can’t do everything, which is why I have staff, okay?” She added that rates should have been gradually increased years ago.
A member of the public brought up previous complaints that money has been wasted on vehicle leases, parks, and other bad management, in addition to the costly contract mistake. Stathatos reiterated that she had staff review the contract.
After some discussion, Miller made a motion to table the item until the December 14 meeting. Tapanes seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Electric car charging stations
In response to the Commission agreeing to two electric car charging stations, Duke Energy returned with a request for five charging stations downtown. After some brief discussion about the lack of parking downtown, Miller made a motion to not approve the site plan submitted by Duke Energy. Grunder seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
Stathatos submits resignation letter
After the meeting, City Manager Ashley Stathatos submitted a letter of resignation to the High Springs City Commission. She said she would like her last day of work to be February 29, following a provision in her contract that requires 60 days of notice. She also offered to stay an additional month if necessary.
I’m sure in some old Government and management textbook, it states the following “the buck stops here” quote.
Delegation to staff is often necessary, but always follow-up is equally important.
High Springs, Florida, maybe the perfect example cited for reference.
Not reading a contract thoroughly is inexcusable. Lots of avoidable actions by some very well-compensated professionals involved.
As the old adage goes: you can delegate authority, but you can’t delegate responsibility.
Hopefully Weitz, Miller, and Tapanes will seize this moment to investigate and purge corruption, incompetence, and cowardice from the High Springs city government.
I still hope that one day soon Gainesville will have the same chance to purge our corrupt city leaders.
I am appalled to find that a $350.000 error has been made and apparently not reported to the commissioners until last night’s meeting. Isn’t it the responsibility of the City Manager and the City Attorney to read all City contracts and be able to advise the City Commissioners on the legalities of all the contracts for the city? Now that bill will be passed on to the citizens of High Springs. This is poor business!
I am confident that this new commission will get to the bottom of this fiscal malfeasance. We need a fiscally responsible new city manager. The city attorney should tender his resignation too.
These elected officials lost $350k of the tax payer’s money. That’s a big deal. And sadly this happens all the time, no way this is the only screw up, maybe the most expensive for HS, but not the only one. It’s easy to spend other people’s money, isn’t it? Hopefully the newly elected will do a better job.
Sounds like someone dropped the Ball, if the City manager cannot rely on her staff to do the right thing and give her CORRECT advise, not only should she go but, the responsible staff members should also lose their positions.
Commissioner Grunder did NOT second himself for vice mayor. Commissioner Tapanes made the motion, and commissioner Williams seconded. This is a fact, and documented in the minutes. It really makes me question the legitimacy of the articles when there is clearly an agenda here.
Also, no one mentioned the finance director. She stated in the meeting that she knew of the budget issues but “didn’t want to be that guy” and allowed it to go over looked when being presented. She should regain right along with the city manager. Shame on her, when the budget is quite literally her job.
Listen carefully to Diane’s answers during the meeting. Diane reports; decisions as to how the figures are reported to the people were made by the Manager and Assistant Manager, both of whom have resigned.
Maybe you should go back and check the minutes. Diane said said in the meeting that she was aware and should have spoken up, but chose not to. Her inability to speak up for what is right and wrong helped cost the city $350,000. You cannot have a finance director who is not willing to speak up for what is right! Nobody should get a pass for these mistakes. No director, city manager, or assistant city manager is clean in this!
I was at the meeting and heard her say that she tried to make it apparent in her report but that no one picked up on it. This group is known to retaliate against those who buck the system so no one can blame her for not doing anything more than she did.
“Not blame her”?
Is this the way we want to start the new board? By allowing potentially illegal and surely unethical incidents to pass under the table?
There is no excuse for hiding wrongdoings.
Adults will accept that they made an error and make it right.
Others can be fired or charged.
Please don’t make excuses. We didn’t want to accept them from Ross, Gloria, Ford or the polypropylene candy store. Don’t accept it from a friend or stranger.
AC posted an update that Vice-Mayor did not second the motion for his selection as Vice-Mayor; second was made by Commissioner Williams.
Congratulations to Andrew and Steve. Their expertise and commitment to the citizens are welcome.
The now former Asst City Mgr Bruce Gillingham resigned a couple weeks ago. Maybe this is partly why.
I wonder now if he was thinking about this in his $1300 per month City provided vehicle!
My fear is this is the tip of the iceberg.
The good news, I think the new Commission has the ability and fortitude to fix it. It may be rough I the short term but give it time.
Unfortunely this is part where someone needs to have FDLE do a investigation and an audit needs to be done by the state. There is no excuse for city managers, assistant managers, staff, the mayor, the commissioners, and the city attorney to not know what is going on. Outside of the two newly elected commissioners the rest need a good cleansing. This a classic case of everyone wanting to blame each other but yet all are responsible.
Isn’t that a part of the same group that recently raised property taxes by 27% “to balance the budget”? Wasn’t there great pushback against diving into exactly what was in that budget?
I believe an outside audit is EXACTLY what is called for now.
Instead of paying for trash. I can stop paying and take my trash to the dump. It is only 3 minutes from my house. Also an audit for sure needs to be done on the city of High Springs . 350,00 dollars is a crazy amount. Hopefully someone will get a handle on where money 💰 can be cut and saved. Taxes increased 18 to 21% is absolutely ridiculous also. The people that voted for that need to pay every one’s taxes . Come High Springs get you crap 💩 together.
I suggested an outside audit but was told an audit had just been done by a company selected by the previous commission. I agree a real independent audit should be considered before the State possibly steps in and performs one?
It is my understanding that an audit would only show weather proper accounting procedures were followed during the fiscal year. Also, auditor’s notes could be important to review. So actually, as I understand it an audit might be limited in scope as to what might be revealed as opposed to asking the right questions.
Garbage pickup must be maintained. The police won’t enforce littering laws. They’ll just buy another $60,000 side by side and 2 employees to run it up and down the road
Three straight years of 4-1 votes and the City Commission was effectively not protecting this City. That one Commissioner (Weitz) could not even receive a second to discuss any issues. They shut her down just as they had done and removed Linda Jones from office. Ross Ambrose led the City Commission and block-voted all opposition. The check and balance form of government was finished. You can not have an Attorney who was part of this process investigate his actions or lack of in this fiasco. The Assistant City Manager suddenly retired (staff) two weeks before the elections. Then the results of that election stopped the rubber-stamping process that had been going on here.
Questions were asked and finally, answers were given. City Manager resigns! The City Attorney is not answering questions.
The City had lost 350 thousand and continues to lose 70 thousand more each month! Obviously, the City Manager did not want the accounts opened up to a complete review process! None of this would have happened if we left the two former Commissioners in office!
Alachua County Today newspaper needs to evaluate its glowing recommendation for keeping them!
The first victim to fight this pack was Linda Jones if she stayed in office at least a second to discuss would have existed here. They eliminated her and isolated Commissioner Weitz. Where was the City Attorney, his silence was screaming even if he was not.
I agree the State needs to come in and a complete investigation must happen. I’m afraid we haven’t heard it all.
Two of the four Commissioners are still in place. They were part of the every vote 4-1 team. The should step down as well. We need to clean up this City.
I wish Mrs Jones would have been re-elected. However, she voted for the construction of the new development despite citizens begging her to vote against. Rezoning and development approval did not make citizens happy. Even if it was going to approval, a symbolic “I hear you”‘would have gone a long way.
I don’t know how your going to do it, but I think the New City commission needs to put a pause on all those slimy constant votes of 4 -1 contract deals in favor of the Wall-Dawgs and all the impact developments they approved, along with about 2500 high density home development ontop of our aquifer, more sewer, more water, more, waste, more pollution, the past 4-1 commission of out of control spending, then they laughted every time they approved the hoard, thoroughly investigate everything that 4-1 commission did properly and correctly, it’s possible that there’s been a mob skimming money out of our beautiful City of High Springs, and the good folks are on the hook for it.
Keep looking and asking questions new Commission. You will find what you’re looking for. The axis of corruption by deceit and corruption by complacency will reveal itself to fall right at the feet of Ross Ambrose, Bruce Gillingham, Stathatos, and City Attorney Walker. Go ahead and see for yourself. It’s there if you look hard enough.
Incompetence at the City Manager level…that’s what it boils down to. The Commission looks for guidance at that level in order to make decisions affecting tax payer dollars…and they put their trust in that office. The CM, Ms Stathatos did not inform the Commission how dire the situation was…or did not understand the complexity of the financial situation. As such she did not articulate to the Commission the facts in order to make prudent decisions. Very disappointing…I’ve been a resident for a number of years but I must credit Mayor Weitz for starting to ask questions about this and being able to get to the bottom of what is going on with the City financially.