COMMISSION MEETS
December 5, 2017
Meeting Specifics
The Cedar Key City Commission met on Tuesday, December 5, 2017, at 6 pm, in the trailer, the temporary home of Cedar Key City Hall after Hurricane Hermine. Present were: Mayor Heath Davis, Vice-Mayor Sue Colson, and commissioners Dale Register, Royce Nelson, and Nickie Rucker.
Staff in attendance included: City Attorney Norm Fugate, Police Chief Virgil Sandlin, Fire Chief and Emergency Operations Manager Robert Robinson, Public Works Supervisor James Custer, City Clerk Nicole Gill, Assistant City Clerk Crystal Sharp, and Assistant to the City Clerk Brandy Knight.
Among those in the audience were: Rebecca Gallagher, Savanna Barry, Allison Nelson, Andrew Gude, Mac Cox, Esta Johnson, Rose Cantwell, Mandy and Frank Offerle, and Lions Greg and Marsha Harrigan, Mike Hodges, Judy Howerton, Joan Selby, and Steve and Mrs. Preisman,
PUBLIC COMMENT
SECOND DECEMBER COMMISSION MEETING (19 December) CANCELLED:
Before asking for public comment, Mayor Davis apologized for the expansive agenda, explaining that its length is, in part, due to the commission’s choice to limit commission meetings to once a month in November and December in deference to the holidays.
LIONS AWARD COMMISSION:
Cedar Key Lion Mike Hodges presented the Cedar Key City Commission with its award of appreciation for working so closely with the Lions to produce a successful Seafood Festival this past October.
SEAHORSE AND SNAKE KEY PROPOSED CLOSURE:
Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges Manager Andrew Gude reminded commissioners of the precarious nesting of the birds on both Seahorse and Snake Keys. He announced that he is in the process of requesting that both keys have an appropriately signed, 300-foot buffer, from March 1 through June into which no boats may enter to preserve the quiet and safety of the nesting birds. Gude will return with updates as his request works its way through the Fish and Wildlife approval process.
BUSY DECEMBER 9:
Vice Mayor Colson reminded all the upcoming Saturday, December 9, events, beginning with the Methodist Church Cookie Walk, the Taste of Cedar Key, Christmas in the Park, Santa Clam’s arrival, and ending with the Boat Parade; she encouraged all to attend.
COLSON’S CONCERNS:
Colson voiced her concerns about recent vandalism in Cemetery Point Park and requested that the Cedar Key Police Department closely monitor that park, City Park, Shell Pile behind the Blue Marina, and non-working street lights.
ANNEXATION RESULTS
Mayor Davis presented the Official Certificate of the County Canvassing Board for Cedar Key’s Special Annexation Election of November 9, 2017, which contained the election results: 56 individuals voted; 50 voted no and 6 voted yes.
Davis reiterated that the city has provided many services for all area residents for years in good faith. He posed the questions: What lessons come from these election results? What follows? Ought the city scale back in some areas? What changes are affected in construction and permitting?
Davis also asked if now was the time to do nothing. He asked commissioners to consider the results and potential actions for the future.
WASTE PRO
Mayor Davis explained that Levy County is no longer recycling glass and that failure affects the city’s Waste Pro agreement.
Additional background on this subject may be found by clicking on the following Cedar Key News links:
http://cedarkeynews.com/index.php/city-news/3455-current-recycling-in-cedar-key
http://cedarkeynews.com/index.php/city-news/3402-recycled-halted-in-levy-county
Recent Waste Pro correspondence and its contract with the city were included in the agenda packet. Commissioner Dale Register functions as liaison with Waste Pro and was tasked by the commission to meet with the company’s decision makers, consider renegotiating of the contract that is due for renewal in twenty months, and report back to the commission.
Mayor Davis said that the city is still allowed to put glass in the recycle bins, but he is not sure what Waste Pro will do with it.
LAND PLANNING AGENCY ASSIGNMENTS
Commissioners unanimously voted to send to the Cedar Key Land Planning Agency, which meets in January 2018, three concerns that they believe still of importance and incomplete: storage sheds, home occupation, and aquaculture on commercial land.
MARINA WORKSHOP CHECKLIST
Mayor Davis presented staff’s Marina Topics of Interest which contained minimum notes from the November 7 Marina Workshop.
Resident and former City of Cedar Key Commissioner Scott Dennison reminded commissioners of the input received from the University of Florida graduate students several years ago regarding the entire Marina renovation.
RESTORE ACT UPDATE
Commissioner Royce Nelson reported working with Levy County’s grant coordinator Tisha Whitehurst regarding the dredging of the inner marina with, hopefully, RESTORE Act funding resulting from the Deep Water Horizon spill.
Nelson broke down the dredging project with a preface and then into five years of activities. The fundamentals follow:
- The project includes not only dredging, but also the disposal of the inner marina material.
- The capture, dewatering, and transportation of the dredged materials make up approximately 70% of the project costs.
- The city is working with the University of Florida to find a use for the reusable 13% of the dredged material to a location nearby.
- The city is working with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to determine alternative placement for the remaining 87% of the dredged materials.
- The following five years activities ware planned.
- First year, dredging of the 450 by 50 foot access channel, from the Gulf to the city marina
- Second and third years, dredging of the south and the north side of the inner marina
- Fourth year, constructing the retaining wall and floating docks on the south side of the marina
- Fifth year, constructing up to fifteen boat lifts and utilities on the north side of the marina
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL REVIEW
Sample Invitations to Bids, Contracts, and Scopes of Work, were presented by Nelson for the dredging and the finger dock projects. Nelson will return to the commission with the floating dock proposal.
ADMINISTRATION DIRECTION
CITY HALL:
Residents are invited to the ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the reopening of City Hall on January 2, 2018, at 5 pm, an hour before the City Commission Meeting. Fire Chief Robert Robinson has scheduled and monitored the reconstruction efforts. The commissioners and audience gave him a resounding round of applause for his efforts.
FEMA HURRICANE IRMA RFP CEMETERY TREE REMOVAL:
Emergency Operations Director Robert Robinson reported that he is working with FEMA to secure funds to further cut, grind, and eventually remove the felled trees remaining in Cemetery Point Park.
ELECTION COMPLAINT UPDATE:
Earlier this year, a complaint was filed with the Florida Elections Commission alleging that the City of Cedar Key violated Florida’s election laws. Cedar Key residents Scott and Andrea Dennison filed the complaint.
This evening, Attorney Norm Fugate reported that has communicated with the Tallahassee lawyer hired by the city at $200 per hour to represent City Clerk Gill in the recent election complaint. Fugate reported that the lawyer’s advice was “don’t rush it,” things such as this “often take a while.”
Click here for further information: http://cedarkeynews.com/index.php/city-news/3309-commission-meets-19-sept-2017.
DOT DOCK STREET BRIDGE:
The Florida Department of Transportation requested a 60-month temporary easement for constructing a diversion road and bridge, to remove he existing bridge. Attorney Fugate commented that there were still some issues regarding ownership of the easement property that needed to be ironed out. Vice-mayor Colson also had some issues and required more details of what the DOT wanted and what they were going to do.
MINUTES APPROVED
Commissioners unanimously approved minutes from the:
- November 17, 2017, City Commission Meeting;
- November 7, 2017, City Commission Meeting;
- and he November 7, 2017, Marina Workshop.
MEETING ADJOURNED
The meeting was adjourned at 7:28 pm.
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