Letter: Shame on High Springs

Letter to the editor

I am writing this because I just cannot wrap my mind around how abhorrent the treatment that Jeremy Marshall received truly was.

To have attended the July 23, 2026 meeting at the Civic Center would have provided much insight. The meeting was to discuss the situation regarding Chief Sheppard, but somehow, his misappropriation of thousands of dollars from the City did not become the focus. As is happening across the country, the script was flipped to the good guy becoming the villain, while ignoring the criminal behavior that occurred in the other guy’s camp. And High Springs let it happen.

From the looks of self-satisfaction on some commissioners’ faces to the comments from the audience (“What about the way Chief Sheppard was treated??”), the actions taken against Mr. Marshall felt like retaliation/revenge. For doing his job. For catching wrongdoing. Way to punish the man who was trying to do the right thing. Mr. Marshall committed no crime, nor did he do anything wrong. To have been treated with this level of vehemence and disrespect is disgraceful.

There have been responses from community members who have little idea of how City government works. Thinking or feeling in some kind of way, coming to erroneous conclusions, or jumping on the bandwagons of his detractors don’t provide much-needed facts. A man’s reputation has been attacked without proof. His livelihood was taken away with a lot of rhetoric and fiction. That is unacceptable.

Yet few are interested in seeing what had actually been accomplished; they only wanted to add their opinions. Detractors have been impatient and accusatory, seeing Marshall as getting in the way of funding their pet projects (regardless of the lack of funds at all).

It is important to research what Mr. Marshall had done and was doing to determine if he was on the right track to move the City further from debt. The City didn’t get where it is overnight, and the fix would require sticking to a plan and making sacrifices in order to gain ground at debt reduction. Ideally, the goal would be to get the City budget in the black, but that would likely take years.

This man came to High Springs about two years ago to become our new City Manager. He uprooted his family and came to this beautiful area, likely believing that it was a good choice for him and his family. He arrived with good intentions, strong skills, and an impeccable reputation. He had the backing of every single person involved in his hiring. He took (and executed) the job in good faith, always.

He inherited the City’s massive debt that was the result of fiscal mismanagement on many levels for at least the previous three years. Evidence of the City’s financial crisis PRIOR to his arrival was seen in the contemporaneous audit for the fiscal year 2023-2024. This audit showed a massive debt of $5+ million in bank overdrafts alone, not to mention the 1$5 million in outstanding debt the City was then -– and now — in. It was easy to see the frustration residents felt when learning this new information at the recent meeting, but I’m not sure it was clear that this audit showed the financial condition of the City when Mr. Marshall arrived two years ago.

Right out of the gate, Mr. Marshall had an uphill battle with little support. His first act was to eliminate the position of Assistant City Manager — a huge cost savings. He knew the job was going to be challenging, but without current audits, he could not know exactly how untenable the situation really was. In the best and most supportive of circumstances, it would be unreasonable for anyone to expect a giant turnaround in a two-year time frame with as many problems and with as much debt as was inherited at the beginning of his tenure.

Mr. Marshall sorely needed his Department Heads and the Commissioners to be on board. But several were not. High Springs has not had a balanced budget for about three decades, nor had regular audits been conducted to review accounts and expenditures prior to Mr. Marshall’s arrival. That is a lot of mess to clean up (or at least address), and without everyone on board wanting to improve the financial health of the City, Mr. Marshall had a rough time trying to “steer the ship against the wind.” To make matters worse, there seemed to be an active and present behind-the-scenes, as well as an outright public smear campaign (spreading lies and gossip) to thwart Mr. Marshall’s efforts.

As the City Manager serves at the pleasure of the Commission, it is the City Commission that holds the purse strings. The City Manager is over the Department Heads and counts on them to determine where cuts could occur. The then-Fire Chief worked diligently to cut all operating costs possible and still run an effective Department. The Police Chief, however, refused to give workable input. As I understand it, State Law limits cuts to sworn personnel; however, even with no personnel cuts, the Chief would still not look at equipment/materials/operating costs to see if those costs could be reduced, while he, himself, padded his own pockets with City money that wasn’t his to take. That is not being on board with helping his community survive.

Mr. Marshall was operating in a very hostile work environment that some folks in High Springs had created for him. Then, to totally disregard the depth and breadth of effort he had poured into getting High Springs’ finances off of life support and fire him as though he was a common criminal is an epic travesty. A large percentage of citizens are unaware of the depth of his commitment to, and efforts and accomplishments for, High Springs. He is the only City Manager we’ve had who didn’t incur more debt for the City. I can tell you this kind of ignorance is never bliss when it gangs up, smears someone’s reputation, and ends someone’s livelihood.

Janet Evans, High Springs

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