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CEDAR KEY SCHOOL...
WHAT'S HAPPENING  THIS WEEK?
2024 December 2
 
This piece waswritten by Cedar Key School's  Jessica Crosby. 
 
CURRENT NEWS
STARR/PM2 testing begins this week.

The Scholastic Book Fair is arriving this week! We anticipate it will be open and ready for purchases starting Wednesday, 12/4. Teachers have been encouraged to submit book titles for their classroom wish lists, so families and community members can consider supporting these requests.

Our AVID Family Night will take place this Thursday, December 5th, from 4 - 6 p.m. Bring your CKS student(s) and join us for an enjoyable, festive evening! (See attached flyer.)
 
IMPORTANT DATES

Monday, 12/2:
PTO Meeting. Auditorium. 3 p.m.
Basketball Games at Bronson. MSG at 5 p.m. VG at 6 p.m. VB at 7:30 p.m. (Bus leaves at 3:45 p.m.)

 LCSO

  ARREST REPORT
2024  December 2 
 
DISCLAIMER
The information provided below comes from the Levy County Sheriff’s Office Jail Media Report.
The photographs and commentaries regarding the allegations against the persons identified herein
are copied from the report verbatim, without any editorial comment or revision by this newspaper.
 
 
 
   
  ******
 

CITY COMMISSION MET 19 NOVEMBER

The Cedar Key City Commssion met Tuesday,
November 19, 2024 - 5 pm at City Hall
 

PUBLIC COMMENT
LIBRARY
Friends of the Cedar Key Library chair Joyce DeHaan asked when the Library would become available for public use. Emergency Operations Manager Robert Robinson responded that the insurance company has settled, and a contractor has been hired to complete the restoration work necessary to reopen. The contractor can present no completion schedule as yet.
 
After thanking the commissioners for an effective, efficient hurricane recovery, Scott Denison warned that soon commissioners will experience a drop in property values and, resultantly, less revenue coming to the city and planning for that is important.
 
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Cedar Key Chamber of commerce President Doug Lindhout urged the easing of building and permitting regulations, as this would be helpful to the business community.
 
CEDAR KEY WATER AND SEWER DISTRICT
The CKWSD requested permission to temporarily occupy space in the parking lot across from the Market to stage equipment used to refurbish the first set of lift stations. They will use as little space as possible. Commissioners unanimously approved the request.
General Manager John Rittenhouse announced an informational public meeting on December 2 when he and the refurbishing contractor will explain where and when city traffic might be interrupted and how it will be managed.
 
CLAM CELEBRATION
University of Florida Extension Agent Leslie Sturmer invited all to the November 30 Clam Celebration which will unveil four fie-foot clam shells decorated by local artists and to be placed about town.
 
CEDAR KEY ARTS CENTER
Mary Prescott announced that the Old Florida Celebration of the Arts Festival will happen but in an altered state. The board is reworking the size, the requirements associated by a juried show, and the number and availability of needed volunteers. More information will be forthcoming.
 
ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
RESOLUTION 557
This resolution amends the future land use plan map series in the Comprehensive Plan.
Commissioners unanimously approved the ordinance.

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE
JAMES MOORE
Commissioners unanimously agreed to hire James Moore, Certified Public Accountants, at a cost of $40,300 to assist the city clerk in the production of books to precede the City’s and the Community Redevelopment Agency’s annual audits.

PURVIS and GRAY
Commissioners unanimously agreed to hire Purvis and Gray, Certified Public Accountants,, at a cost of $4,970, to perform the City’s and the Community Redevelop net Agency’s annual audits.

PUBLIC WORKS
Mayor Colson suggested using the Marina dock, which extends the parking lot’s west side, be used temporarily by those persons normally renting the outside Marina kiosks. Commissioners unanimously vote in favor of the idea.
 
The meeting adjourned at 7 p.m.

  
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EXQUISITE YOGA PLATFORM
GRACES CEMETERY POINT PARK
2024 November 22
 
 
On Friday, November 22, 2024, seventeen graduating University of Florida architecture seniors celebrated the culmination of three months’ work: the designing and building of a yoga platform.
 
Built entirely of cedar, the 20 by 16 foot platform sports an instructor’s upper platform, a large practice space, a bench, stairs upon which to climb or be seated and a graceful white and blue canopy that eases the sun’s rays. The structure is elegant, graceful, and consummately useful.
YOGA 5112xe ckn
When asked what the intention of the piece was, students echoed Cedar Key. “We wanted it to reflect a combination of water, boats, waves, peace, and what is essentially Cedar Key,” one student remarked. The entire structure is made of warm cedar wood; the canopy reflects the blue and white of the sky and the clouds while it shades; and the base of the structure resembles the hull of a strong vessel. Indeed, the students achieved what they intended…quite magnificently.
 
In August, students began their semester-length Design/ Build architecture course with Professor Charlie Hailey, architect, writer, and School of Architecture, University of Florida, professor, Hailey received a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fulbright Scholarships, and has authored six books focusing upon multidisciplinary approaches to the built environment.
 
Hailey’s Design/Build course is designed to have students interact with a community, explore a need/project, design that project, and build it from the ground up, working with the community throughout the process. Students met the community representatives in August, initially returned every two weeks to further design and building concepts, and finally returned weekly to finalize the construction project.
YOGA 5157xe ckn
YOGA 5127xe ckn
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
Professor Charlie Hailey expressed pleasure and delight with his students and their product. “This was an amazing group of students; they are uniquely academic, creative, as well as practical, all very necessary qualities for successful architecture. We also really appreciate the chance to work with the Cedar Key community again. Additionally, this group was a complete pleasure with whom to work.”
 
Hailey has brought other Design/Build students to Cedar Key through the years, each class producing a project. A viewing bench and a sculpture bench once graced the Northwest shore of Cemetery Park, recently downed by hurricanes. The boat-like gathering bench behind the Welcome Center is another such structure. Perhaps one of the finest projects is the Muir gathering place located where the cemetery boardwalk meets Cemetery Park.
 
All of Hailey’s students seem to have internalized what is central to Cedar Key thinking: water, waves, peace, calm, and pensiveness.
 
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CKWSD FAUCETCEDAR KEY WATER AND SEWER DISTRICT: 
SMOKE TEST 
BEGINNING DECEMBER 9 
2024 November 29


To Residents and Occupants of Cedar Key, Florida:

The Cedar Key Water and Sewer District will be conducting a smoke test of our sanitary sewer system This testing will begin Monday, December 9, 2024. This study will involve the opening and entering of manholes in the streets and public utility easements. An important task of the testing will be locating breaks and defects in the sewer system. The smoke test will also reveal where storm and surface water enter the sewer system.

A special non-toxic smoke will be used in these tests. The smoke is manufactured for this purpose, leaves no residuals or stains, and has no effect on plant or animal life. The smoke has a distinctive, but not unpleasant, odor. Visibility and odor last only a few minutes, where there is adequate ventilation.

Because the plumbing appliances in your house or building are connected to the sanitary sewer system, some smoke may enter your home or place of business if:

•Vents connected to your building's sewer pipes are inadequate, defective, or improperly installed.
•Traps under sinks, tubs, basins, showers and other drains are dry, defective, improperly installed, or missing.
•Pipes, connections and seals of the wastewater drain system in and under your buildings are damaged, defective, have plugs missing, or are improperly installed.

If the plumbing system of your residence/business is adequate and all drain traps are full of water, smoke should not be seen indoors. Smoke observed indoors during the testing would indicate a plumbing deficiency. Should smoke enter your home or business, you may contact us at 352-543-5285 so we can record the location. Location, identification, and correction of the source of smoke that enters your building is advised. Your cooperation will be appreciated. The information gained from this testing will be used to improve sewer service.

Should you have any questions on this matter, please contact John Rittenhouse, at 352-543-5285.
 
  
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SENIOR LUNCHEON IS BACK... 
COME VISIT!...
 DECEMBER 6
 
2024  December 2
 

When: Friday, December 6, 11:30 a.m.
Where: Christ Episcopal Church, 4050 D Street, Cedar Key
Cost: No Charge to You

Meals are Donated by Members and Friends of
Christ Episcopal Church
 
 
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CK CITY DECALNOTICE: 
LAUNDRY FACILITIES
2024 November 25
 
The laundry facilitiesS  will be
leaving the Island on
Friday, November 29, 2024.
 
Please do not  leave laundry unattended.
 
 
*****

CEDAR KEY COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
DECIDES UPON PARKING, BUDGET
2024 November 21

The Cedar Key Community Redevelopment Agency met in a workshop first and then a meeting, two separate proceedings, on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at 5 pm in City Hall. This article recounts the meeting’s content.
 
Commissioners in attendance included: Chair Jim Wortham, Vice-Chair Sue Colson, Nancy Sera, Jeff Webb, and Jolie Davis. CRA member John Meeks was not in attendance.
 
BUDGET
FINAL BUDGET HEARING 2025
Commissioners unanimously approved the CRA 2025 budget. $634,325 carries over to the upcoming year’s budget.
 
RESOLUTION 2024-2
Commissioners unanimously approved the CRA budget for fiscal year 2024-2025.
 
THIRD STREET PROPERTY
Commissioners voted three to two, to not approve the purchase of property on the south side of Third Street from the Carmen Project.
No backup paperwork was provided for this item in the agenda packet.
 
For the past year, the CRA and the Carmen Project have been in negotiations about this property. It contains six lots on the south side of 3rd Street, behind the Island Hotel. The asking price was initially $525,000. The property was later appraised at $415,000. Tonight’s’ price, after Attorney Fugate and the Carmen Project representative met, was $415,000.
 
Mayor Sue Colson again articulated the community’s need for the property, citing hopes to raise a sinking Third Street,, its current value as parking, and the need for the city to own property for later catastrophes, public works staging, and other yet unknown complexities.
Commissioners Jim Wortham, Jeff Webb, and Jolie Davis voted not to purchase the property while Sue Colson and Nancy Sera voted to purchase it.
 
Wortham, Webb, and Davis said that they might purchase the land later if and when they were more certain of funding. Caryn Stephenson, Carmen Project co-owner, responded that, though she believed the land should be in the city’s hands, her project would move forward, and it may not be available to them in the future.
 
SECOND AND A-STREET PARKING
For the second time, the issue of possible parking spaces and retaining wall on the northwest corner of the Second Street and A-Streets intersection surfaced. Currently, the narrow road, A-Street, has no authorized parking, nor has it a pedestrian path/sidewalk.
 
Tonight, commissioners voted to provide a retaining wall and four parking spaces on A-Street at the intersection of Second and A-Street, site of the Sellars Bakery property, at a cost of $41,000. The vote was 5-0.
 
No informational backup paperwork was provided for this item in the agenda packet. The site plan showing the proposed parking and retaining wall was not available prior to the meeting to allow for public comment.

CK CITY DECALCEDAR KEY
COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
WORKSHOP 
2024 November 21
 

The Cedar Key Community Redevelopment Agency met in a workshop first and then a meeting, two separate proceedings, on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at 5 pm in City Hall. This article reflects the workshop contents.
 
All commissioners were in attendance: Chair Jim Wortham, Vice-Chair Sue Colson, Nancy Sera, Jeff Webb, and Jolie Davis. CRA Member John Meeks was not in attendance.
 
WORKSHOP PREFACE
Chair Wortham announced the workshop’s intention: to hear from business owners how, after Hurricane Helene, the Community Redevelopment Agency, could help them. He expressed his concern that should businesses not succeed, Cedar Key may go the way of Suwannee or Yankeetown.
 
INVITED PANEL
Specifically invited to this “panel” were business individuals, for whom ten seats were reserved immediately before the commission dais. Of the city business community, five Cedar Key businesses representatives, Ronnie Taylor, Dell Weible, Denis Gull, Pat Bonish, and Caryn Stephenson, attended.
 
Wortham abbreviated the CRA’s history, some of its accomplishments, budgeting logic , some specifics it could legally and not legally do, and tax increment funding expectations to come.
 
RESPONSES
Responses from the invited panel were varied and often contradictory. To cite a few: easing land code regulations regarding building height as well as building on ground level, fully dredging the marina as well as filling in part of the marina to make a parking lot, installing moorings in the channel for large boats, placing marine gas facilities dockside or have a gas truck available to supply gas to boat people touring the coast, and gas available at the airport, adding more parking, adding more floating docks and, returning the post office truck to its previously rented property, businesses in residential areas, replaing some of the County housing with city buildings and businesses, fixing the pier, paying businesses’ permitting fees, and more.

Many of the ideas had been discussed at previous city workshops and shown to be unworkable and environmentally unsafe.
 
Many comments were regarding parking. Some saw it as a problem of people having to walk two or more blocks to a particular business.

Repeatedly, Wortham, Webb, and Davis implied that Community Redevelopment Agency dollars, for the businesses, were there for the asking, should the asking be within the legal limits of the agency. You need to “guide us, not vice versa,” articulated Wortham. Webb suggested the CRA give matching grants, not to be repaid, to help businesses rebuild.

 
new logo W3C WILL MEET DECEMBER 18 
2024  November  21
 
The Waccasassa Water and Wastewater Cooperative, the W3C, will meet on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, in Cedar Ky at City Hall
 
 
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LIFT STATIONS /
GRINDER/PUMPING UNITS...
A PRIMER / THE BASICS
2024 November 18
 
 
PRIVATE STATIONS / UNITS
If you live on the islands south of the Number Four Bridge in Cedar Key and your property sits below the Cedar Key Water and Sewer District’s drainage system, you have a private residential lift station on your property.
 
The purpose of that lift station on your property is to “lift” and pump the sewage from your property up to the level of the CKWSD drainage system, where it is collected into one of seventeen CKW&SD lift stations around the Cedar Key islands south of the Number Four Bridge. Those seventeen lift stations lift and pump the sewage to the wastewater plant on Third Street where it is treated.
 
The lift stations on private properties are sometimes referred to as grinder pumping units, or wet wells.
 
The Cedar Key Water and Sewer District maintains the larger lift station systems that are located on the city right of way. The lift stations units on individuals’ private properties and all piping located beyond the water meter are the responsibility of the property owners. Both the CKWSD’s and individual property owners’ stations are electronically complex units requiring regular maintenance.
 
PUBLIC STATIONS / UNITS
The seventeen CKWSD lift stations will now be refurbished, thanks to grants from the Florida legislature and the energetic lobbying of CKWSD general manager and commissioners, some city officials, ad voluminous missives from Cedar Key based non-profit environmental groups.
 
PUBLIC MEETING
An information meeting presented by the CKWSD will be held on December 3rd. Presenters will explain the process and scheduling of the refurbishing of the seventeen water department lift stations The plan is that two stations will be refurbished at a time, diminishing he slight traffic alterations that will attend the process.
 
FURTHER HELPFUL INFORMATION
Helpful to you might be the two following pieces:
• the first from retired architect and resident Laura Goodwin focusing upon the lift stations on private property;
• the second from CKWSD General Manager John Rittenhouse focusing on lift stations on private properties when power interrupts operation.
 
 
 
*****
 

CK CITY DECALSTORM DEBRIS REMOVAL ENDED
2024 Novvember 19
 
Pick up for storm debris has ended.
Expect removal as quickly as possible.
 
No new construction waste should be placed in debris piles.  New coonstruction waste removal is the responsibility of the builder/property owner.
 
 
 
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CHIEF THEATER
 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL LIVE AT CHIEF THEATER
2024 November 13

Join the Chief Theatre for the classic holiday story A Christmas Carol live on stage. Infused with a myriad of popular Christmas carols and a subtle twist of humor, Charles Dickens' tale is once again alive with holiday spirit.
 
The cast features Maddy Baker, Brandt Beach, Celeste Beach, Blake Bianco, Chrissie Biggs, Morgan Biggs, Graham Burr, William Burr, Amelia DeShazer, Kristin Eckelmann, Val Fletcher, Sage Gregory, Jadyn Mathis, Mac McKenzie and Tiffany Wood.
The play is adapted by Jacquline Goldfinger and presented by special arrangement with Playscripts. This production is directed by Elizabeth Burr.