High Springs hires special magistrate, discusses possible groundwater contamination from proposed private golf course

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – At their April 24 Regular Meeting, the High Springs City Commission approved hiring a special magistrate, raised concerns about the planned Tomoka Hills Golf Course in Alachua, and covered several topics during a Budget Workshop.

Public comment

The meeting began with a member of the public, Dale Jenkins, discussing the exterior lighting at the recently-opened 24-hour Anytime Fitness gym. Jenkins showed pictures of the light from the business “pouring into (his) backyard” at night and similar pictures provided by his neighbor. He said, “I’m happy to report that this condition has changed slightly, and this is a direct consequence of the work of your staff, Kristi Adkins, the Inspector (Planning Technician), and Jennifer Dotson, your Code Compliance Officer. She went out there and took a look at this and basically told the owner, ‘You got to fix this. You’re in violation.’ And I’m happy to report that last night I noticed those side lights aren’t really coming into my property anymore. So, they went and did the right thing. They put shades, they put covers on those three lights on the west side of that building. But you’d think, three weeks now, it finally took the Code Compliance Officer to come out there and tell them, ‘Hey, if you don’t do this, it’s a $500 a day fine.’ So I’m happy to report that the owner of that business has done the right thing.” 

Mayor Tristan Grunder said, “We agree with you. We are extremely lucky with the staff that we have. The City Manager and everybody else has done a great job of putting the right pieces in place. So thank you for that.”

Commissioner Wayne Bloodsworth asked Jenkins to provide pictures of “how it looks today,” since McDonald’s will be opening soon and there could be similar issues.

Special magistrate

Grunder introduced the only item of business – discuss, consider, and act on hiring a new special magistrate. City Clerk Angela Stone said, “This was our third time that we went out to bid. If you remember, we went out the first time, we had two bids come in, and then we had some issues. So then we had to go back out [for bid]. We didn’t get any. So this was our third attempt. And we did receive two bids, and I think that staff has given you a report in the packet on their recommendation.”

Commissioner Katherine Weitz asked, “What happened to our previous magistrate? He just kind of went away.” Stone said she didn’t know exactly why he left.

Bloodsworth asked if the City Attorney could act as special magistrate, and City Attorney Danielle Adams explained that a special magistrate acts impartially, while a City Attorney is always acting on behalf of the City’s interests.

Grunder noted that both candidates are qualified, and staff recommended the Gapske Law Firm, located in Middleburg. (The other candidate was the Gilchrist Law Firm, located in Coral Gables.)

Grunder asked if both firms had sent representatives. A representative of the Gilchrist Law Firm came to the podium. She said, “We do a lot of government contracting. We work for USDA, the Department of the Army. Mr. Gilchrist was in the Army. He was a JAG (Judge Advocate General) officer, so he did a lot of code compliance. So that’s why we think that he would be the best fit for the job.” She added that they also have two other attorneys available to act as magistrate, should the need arise.

Grunder asked staff why they preferred one candidate over the other. Police Chief Antoine Sheppard said, “Miss Dotson did a lot of research on the options. Both are very viable choices, and we would take either one of them. But our singular issue was that we would have one attorney [with Gapske] as opposed to Gilchrist, where there could be multiple attorneys for different occasions.” 

Grunder pointed out that they need a special magistrate to hear RedSpeed (school zone) ticket cases, in addition to code enforcement questions. Chief Sheppard said they currently only have four RedSpeed tickets being contested.

City Attorney Adams said, “Part of the delay in this whole process was the original bids that we put out. When we got those two applicants and you all selected who you wanted, in the process of negotiating that contract I couldn’t get the contractor to agree to have insurance…  I wasn’t comfortable recommending executing a contract… when someone was refusing to provide malpractice insurance.”

Weitz said, “I’m honestly very torn because I see the other applicant is currently a special magistrate for three other cities or counties, a one-man show.”

Grunder asked, “Would there be any issues to having somebody here in person, like once a month, coming in person?”

The Gilchrist representative answered, “Not at all. Yeah, we are available.” 

Adams added that her recommendation was to conduct the proceedings in person instead of remotely, given the unpredictability of technology.

Weitz asked about travel expenses for traveling back and forth from Coral Gables (in Miami-Dade County).

Motion

Commissioner Andrew Miller made a motion to go with the Gapske Law Firm, since it is closer and there was still a question about travel expenses for the Gilchrist Law Firm. Bloodsworth suggested getting a definite answer about Gilchrist’s travel expenses before proceeding. 

The Gilchrist representative made a phone call to get an answer. She said, “Just to clarify that, he will not be requesting travel [expenses].” 

Weitz seconded Miller’s motion. Miller said that they didn’t know whether the firm in Middleburg would be charging for travel since they hadn’t sent a representative. Weitz said she wanted to withdraw her second, so Miller’s motion died for lack of a second.

Second motion

Bloodsworth made a motion to accept Gilchrist Law Firm as the new magistrate and to authorize Adams to negotiate a contract. Commissioner Chad Howell seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Public notices, Canoe Outpost, Tomoka Hills Golf Course

During final comments, Adams said she is working to move some public notices to the City website instead of paying to publish them in a newspaper, which should save a substantial amount of money.

Speaking on behalf of City Manager Jeremy Marshall, who was absent, Finance Director Diane Wilson said they are working on a solution for the financing of the Canoe Outpost, to avoid having to pay the County a large sum of money.

Weitz said the planned Tomoka Hills Golf Course in Alachua will be using up to 250,000 gallons of water per day for the 18-hole course, along with fertilizer. Weitz said she has concerns about this, since that is as much water as the entire City of Archer uses, and fertilizer is used every time they water. Weitz suggested that they should not be permitted to water during the rainy season, as it will wash the fertilizer down into the groundwater. 

Miller asked whether the Canoe Outpost can be sold. Adams said it can, but the conservation easement specifies that the property can never be subdivided, which might limit its potential value to a prospective buyer.

Budget Workshop

An hour-long Budget Workshop was held prior to the Commission meeting, and Finance Director Diane Wilson presented several slides showing the planned budgets for each of the departments. 

Wilson said they are finishing the 2023 budget audit, which has required special attention due to the problems during that time period, and they will complete the 2024 audit shortly thereafter. Wilson added that the State will begin to withhold funding if the budget audits are not completed soon.

Miller said, “I would love for us to look into our new business permit process. I think that is the phone call I get almost every time a new business opens up here in town, is that they struggle to open up here in High Springs for some odd reason…  I can name 10 businesses off the top of my head that have called me about that… Everybody feels like they have to go through a lot of hurdles and do a lot to open up a business here, and I feel like it’s not attracting new businesses because all the ones that’s here complain and say they will never open up another business here in town because of all the stuff they have to go through.”

Weitz suggested putting something on the City’s website to try to make the process more straightforward.