This brief article is the last in this three-part series. The second, yesterday, focused upon Commissioner Jim Wortham. This piece focuses upon Mayor Sue Colson.
The Cedar Key News staff hopes the reader understands the following.
• Recognize that different commissioners have different tenures on the commission; they range from four years to over two decades.
• Recognize that these efforts are not part of the routine commissioner duties; these go well beyond budgeting, attending meetings, staying abreast of “things.” These efforts go much farther.
• This content is meant to give the reader a glimpse behind the scenes.
• This content emanates from the Cedar Key News archives.
• This content is not exhaustive.
COLSON
Cedar Key Food Pantry
• Has operated the Pantry for past seven years
• Transformed it from some forty clients to 80 to 100 each week
• Has added mental health educational materials and access to Health Department staff, sponsors monthly/bimonthly visitations Pantry by Health Department staff, offers computer assistance and expertise to assist those needing to access medical, social security, and other aid programs
• Each holiday, from big ones like Christmas to small ones like Valentine’s Day, offers special gifts or gift packages, all containing healthy items, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and the like, acknowledging clients’ humanity
• Offers gas cards to those who must get to a doctor in Gainesville
Water Awareness
• Served as director for approximately a decade on the Suwannee River Water Management District, one the five state-level water organizations that safeguard and distribute ground and surface waters to every Floridian
• In March 2016, orchestrated “Think Water, Think Ceda Key” program, the six-week seminar and community participation series focusing upon: history of water in Cedar Key and the creation of the Cedar Key Water and Sewer District, sea-level rise concerns, freshwater access, and the future of water in Cedar Key
• With Mayor Davis and many others spearheaded the concept of constructing a pipeline from Bronson, where excellent water resides, through Otter Creek, to Cedar Key, where sea level rise and salinity issues encroach. The entry, Waccasassa Water and Wastewater Cooperative was formed two years ago, has already acquired grants forwarding it goal of providing “Good Water” to the entities and removing wastewater from each. Hopes are high to include Rosewood and Sumner in the resulting water access.
• Began the Florida State Departmental Environmental Protection’s Clean Marina Program in Cedar Key, meeting and monitoring its standards and assuring that waters remain free from debris and other pollutants
• Joining the International Coastal Clean Up effort and spearheaded Coastal Clean Up in Cedar Key for decades, inviting hundreds of volunteers annually from around the area, and to collect, count, and properly dispose of debris on and around the islands surrounding Cedar Key
• Refurbished a century-old two-hole outhouse into a resident and tourist educational attraction that teaches how the city has processed wastewater since the municipality was founded