Happy Labor Day Apalachicola

Gail and I encourage each of you to be safe and have a Happy Labor Day weekend!

Lafayette Park Pier Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

On the afternoon of August 28, the City of Apalachicola joined with the engineering firm of Baskerville-Donovan to host a ribbon cutting ceremony in celebration of the completion of Lafayette Park Fishing Pier. Below you will find a copy of the speech I gave and footage taken by Outdoor GeekGal. Enjoy!

My Speech

Citizens Concerned over Budget

During the City’s second scheduled budget workshop held on August 26, the Commission spent nearly two hours listening while residents expressed their concerns over the city’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2008-09.

Local resident Gerald Weber who owns a boat docked at the Battery Park Marina started by questioning the wisdom in increasing city expenditures during an economic downturn. He specifically queried the Board on the proposal to charge User Fees at the Battery Park Marina as recommended by staff. He stated that people on the streets and businesses are talking about how they are struggling to make ends meet while the City is raising their taxes. Weber also asked the City Commission not to make the same mistake as the County by granting across-the-board raises during bad economic times.

Joe Taylor stated that while he supported the proposed User Fees he felt that the timing was not right. Beverly Hewitt lamented over the sharp increase in the assessed value of her property and questioned the Commission concerning the need for a fulltime building inspector.

Commissioner Frank Cook who served on the Citizens Budget Committee explained to the people in attendance the process the Committee followed before making their recommendations to the City Commission. He further explained that the decline in revenue and the increases in the cost of gasoline and utilities had caused the Committee to take a closer look at where to find revenue to fund the budget. Cook also stated that city employees have not had a cost of living increase in two years and they are falling behind other employees throughout the county.

In addition to essential government services, the proposed budget without changes includes $1,500 for the Humane Society, Senior Citizens and the Dixie Theater and $3,500 for the Franklin Promise food pantry.

In the end and in preparation of the September 9, public hearing the City Commission instructed Lee Mathes, City Clerk to multiply the combined base salaries of all city employees by 3 percent and to divide the sum into the number of fulltime employees to determine the amount for a cost of living increase for employees excluding commissioners. The Commission further instructed Mathes to reduce the 6.125 tentatively approved millage rate by the difference, however the Commission did not instruct the City Clerk to factor in any of the proposed User Fees.

Army Corps Response Letter

Attached, is a copy of the letter recently received from Brigadier General Joseph Schroedel with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The correspondence is in response to my July 8 letter sent to the General following a breakfast meeting with representatives from the Corps at the Gibson Inn in early July.

In my letter, I asked General Schroedel in part why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had not changed its Revised Interim Operations Plan (RIOP) on the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River System to comply with the February 5 ruling of the Federal District Court of Appeals concerning the use of freshwater from the ACF River Basin.

Response Letter

Water Street Hotel Anniversary

It has been nearly one full year since Water Street Hotel a state of the art Hotel located in Historic Apalachicola opened its doors for business; the owners are now celebrating their 1st year anniversary Saturday, September 6, at 4:00 p.m. at the facility.


Since its opening, this business has made a significant contribution to the local economy through the creation of 11 new jobs, $1 million in improvements to the City’s infrastructure, increased property tax revenue to the City by approximately $285,000, increased bed tax revenues to the County by $24,000 and increased sales tax revenue to the State by $72,000.

The planning and design of this facility met or exceeded the highest of standards and “The Mayor’s Blog” would like to say congrats and Happy Anniversary to the owners and staff of Water Street Hotel.

Apalachicola spared by Fay

Concerned as Tropical Storm Fay approached the Florida panhandle, Franklin County officials declared a state of emergency early Thursday morning in anticipation of 6-8 inches of rain with subsequent flooding and 40-45 mph winds.

As a precaution, on Friday Betty Taylor-Webb, City Administrator instructed Public Works crews to ready equipment while State Inmates prepared sand bags to keep potential flood waters at bay. Police Chief Bobby Varnes and Fire Chief Bert Simmons ordered their departments on standby to provide assistance as needed. In addition, Progress Energy Spokesperson Bobby Pickles notified Betty Taylor-Webb and left a message on my cell phone late Friday informing that the power company were expecting widespread power outages and were sending extra crews to restore power after the storm passed.

Fortunately, the storm did not strengthen to a point where it caused any major damage, we got some much-needed rain, but in the end, there were no reported damage, injuries, or significant flooding. Despite the potential danger of flooding from this storm, the City of Apalachicola came out of it in good shape, below is a video clip of Apalachicola taken at 9:00 A.M. on Saturday, August 23, 2008.

Evaluation & Appraisal Report

Discussed at yesterday’s August 21, joint workshop with the Planning & Zoning Board, was completing the work already started on the City’s Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR).

Subsequent to the Growth Management Act of the mid 80’s which put the Comprehensive Planning Act in place, follow-up legislation was passed which required that once every seven years each local government adopt an Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) to assess the progress in implementing the local government’s comprehensive plan.

The report evaluates how successful a community has been in addressing major community land use planning issues through implementation of its comprehensive plan. Based on this evaluation, the report suggests how the plan should be revised to better address community objectives, changing conditions and trends affecting the community, and changes in state requirements.

In 1999, the City of Apalachicola undertook its first Evaluation and Appraisal Report Process and in 2004, completed part of the required EAR based amendments. As mandated by state law, Apalachicola was required to submit a 2007 EAR report to the Florida Department of Community Affairs no later than September 1, 2007.

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Plan began in the spring of 2007 when City officials requested that our Planning Consultant undertake the project. The consultant was responsible for working with the Planning and Zoning Board in completing the project.

Attached, for your review are the changes recommended to the EAR and its latest draft.

Recommended Changes

Latest Draft

Upcoming Meetings & Events

City Commission and Planning & Zoning Workshop:

At 6PM Thursday, August 21, the City Commission and the Planning & Zoning Board with hold a workshop to continue the work on bringing the Evaluation Appraisal Report (EAR) in sync with our Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony:

On Thursday, August 28, the City of Apalachicola and the engineering firm of Baskerville-Donovan, Inc. (BDI) will host a ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the completion of the Lafayette Park Fishing Pier. The ceremony will commence at 4PM at the entrance of the pier. Light refreshments will be served and the public is invited to attend.

Calendar Girls Cabaret:

Franklin Needs, Inc. is finalizing plans for a Calendar Girls Cabaret fundraiser at the Fort Coombs Armory in Apalachicola to raise funds to help fight breast cancer. The group is planning the cabaret for Saturday, October 25. For more information contact Elaine Kozlowsky.

Some People are going to be Hurt

It has been almost a year since the City of Apalachicola filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for endangering our way of life by reducing the amount of freshwater flow down the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System.

Early on, the court consolidated the lawsuit with the State of Florida and others into a multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Florida.

It has been our position all alone that the U.S. Congress would not resolve this 20-year old water war, but that a resolution would come from the courts.

After taking that position, the City of Apalachicola along with two other small Georgia communities bordering the AFC River Basin mounted separate legal challenges aimed at protecting our community’s natural resources and our way of life. To date, Apalachicola is the only Florida community that felt this issue was important enough to take what is emerging to be the only action that is going to resolve the matter.

The Judge assigned to hear the case, U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson has announced that he is set and ready to resolve this issue by January 2009. Judge Magnuson has stated that he must first decide whether the Metro-Atlanta area has the authority to continue using Lake Lanier as its main source of freshwater and that the earlier District Court of Appeals ruling would have a bearing on the current litigation.

The early Appeals Court ruling stated in part that the taking of water from the federal reservoirs at Lake Sidney Lanier for municipal purposes was not an authorized congressional use. Should Judge Magnuson rule accordingly, Atlanta would have to start looking for a new source of drinking water.

This is the same account City Attorney Pat Floyd, reported to the City Commission at our August 5 meeting when he quoted, Judge Magnuson as saying at the July 21 hearing held in Jacksonville, “some people are going to be hurt a lot and some are going to be helped a little”.

City Reviews Budget

At the Tuesday, August 12 budget workshop, City Commissioners listened while Staff and the Citizens Budget Committee made several recommendations aimed at improving the City’s overall fiscal condition.

Faced with a combined loss of $122,500 in revenues over the past fiscal year, the Budget Committee recommended that the City Commission consider the following:

1. Amend the City’s 2007-2008 budget to reflect the actual income and expenses in all departments and the general fund;

2. Complete and approve the Franchise Agreement with Mediacom;

3. Increase the current $1.50 per foot docking fee at the Battery Park Marina to $3.00 per foot;

4. Prior to September, 2008, develop and implement an appropriate docking fee for the Scipio Creek Marina;

5. Charge the Department of Environmental Protection a fee for each boat docked at the Scipio Creek Marina;

6. Consider a 3% cost of living increase for all City of Apalachicola employees with a minimum increase of $1,000;

7. If possible, negotiate a new rental agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife for the office rental space at Scipio Creek;

8. Adopt the tentatively approved 6.125 millage rate;

9. Continue to apply for State and Federal grant funds for various departments;

10. Consider charging a registration fee for Golf Carts.

City Staff made the following recommendations:

ESTIMATED GENERAL GOVERNMENT REVENUE/SAVINGS

1. Adopt an overtime policy that allows an employee who accumulates overtime to take off the hours gained before the end of the workweek. Savings - $5,000;

2. Increase the cost to open/close a grave from $250 to $500. Revenue - $8,000;

3. Increase the Property Use Fee charged to Mediacom from $150/per month to $2000/per month. Revenue - $22,200;

4. Charge each water use customer an additional $1/per month for storm water improvements and maintenance. Revenue - $20,832;

5. Charge a $100 fee for the reservation of Lafayette Park. Revenue - $4,000;

6. Charge $25/annually for Golf Cart registration. Revenue - $3,100;

7. Increase the rental fee for use of the Community Center from $100 to $150 and the Recreation Center from $75 to $100 with $50 for State/non-profits and ½ the price for city employees. Revenue - $4,500;

8. Increase the charge for rezonings, variances, special exceptions and plan changes from $100 to $250 plus mailing cost. Revenue - $3,000;

9. Increase the occupational license fee by 25% with CPI increase or 3% per year, whichever is greater. Revenue - $9,375;

10. Increase building permit fees from $20-$30 to $75. Revenue - $3,000

TOTAL: $83,007

ESTIMATED ENTERPRISE FUND REVENUE/SAVINGS

1. Increase mooring fee by 100%. $35/annually to use boat ramps or $2/per launch, free annual pass to documented seafood workers. Revenue - $54,000;

2. Negotiate with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife a new rental agreement for office space. Revenue - $10,000;

3. Charge the State for mooring their barge at Scipio Creek Marina. Revenue - $2,000;

4. Omit mailing out water bill late notices. Savings - $2,500;

5. Charge a $25 fee to activate water services. Revenue - $5,000;

6. Charge a call out fee of $25/Charge for damage to city property $100/Increase return check charge to $35. Revenue - $5,000

TOTAL: $83,500

Should the Commission adopt the recommendations of Staff and the Budget Committee we would generate a Grand Total of $166,507/annually in User Fees for the General Government and Enterprise Fund.

Click HERE to review a copy of the proposed budget for FY 2008-2009.

Budget Workshop: August 12, 2008

The City of Apalachicola will hold its first budget workshop, Tuesday, August 12 at 6:00 PM at 1 Bay Avenue, City Hall. At the workshop, the Commission will conduct a preliminary assessment of the proposed budget for FY 2008/09 as reviewed and recommended by the Citizens Budget Committee. City officials invite any resident interested in the development of the annual budget to attend this workshop.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact City Hall at (850) 653-9319.

A new Home for City Hall

Remember when City Hall was supposed to move back downtown in the old city hall building partially renovated with Historic Preservation funds. Well that plan collapsed, the City of Apalachicola applied for the additional grants needed to complete the renovation, but never received the additional funds.

In the interim, I have started a dialogue with the Franklin County School District and should all turn out well, City Hall may have a new home in the Chapman Elementary School building. This past Thursday, August 7, 2008, I met with JoAnn Gander, Superintendent of Schools and Mike Clark, Assistant Superintendent to discuss the possibility. In attendance at that meeting were Lee Mathes, City Clerk, Joe Taylor, President of Chamber of Commerce, and Alan Pierce, Franklin County Director of Administrative Services.


We discussed a variety of topics, however, the main topic centered around the City of Apalachicola having an opportunity to utilize a portion of Chapman Elementary School and the Gymnasium now that the new consolidated high school is ready for occupancy.

In exchange for the city paying the utility cost on one of the classroom pods to serve as Project Impacts Apalachicola site for their after school program. I proposed that the city have access to the two front offices and the two front classroom pods to relocate City Hall from the Battery Park Community Center. Each pod consists of at least five to six classrooms that the city could use for municipal offices, with the gymnasium serving as a youth center or for other community programs. We further discussed the possibility of combining the afterschool program, which serves approximately 150 kids with the City of Apalachicola newly created History, Culture, and Arts program.

City staff is now in the process of drafting a formal proposal for the City Commission to consider before submitting it to the school district for consideration.

Fishing Pier Report

During the 2005 hurricane season, a historic storm surge produced by Hurricane Dennis slammed into Apalachicola’s coastline on July 10 and left our docks and fishing piers in disrepair. Since that fateful July date, city officials have frantically pursued a variety of funding sources to affect repair on what many consider our greatest asset. The reported information is concerning all phases of the various Pier, Parks, and Marina repair projects undertaken by the City of Apalachicola.

Lafayette Park Fishing Pier:

The engineering firm of Baskerville-Donovan, Inc. (BDI) overseen this project and the city awarded the construction contract to Marine Contracting Group out of Punta Gorda, Florida. Construction included the complete rebuild with a design that allow the pier panels to pop out during an elevated storm surge, for recovery and replacement afterward. The project is complete and many thanks go to Mr. Paul Witt, General Manager and his company for the outstanding job they did on this project.

Mrs. Barbara Holmes, a neighbor and frequent user of Lafayette Park had this to say about the completed project, “Dear Mayor Johnson, Clark and I and our family find the Lafayette Park Pier to be very beautiful and worth the long wait for the rebuilding.”

The funding source for this project was the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

ENGINEERING FEES: $114,709

CONSTRUCTION COST: $772,589

TOTAL FUNDING: $887,298

Below is a video slideshow created by Outdoor GeekGal titled “Apalachicola’s Lafayette Park Pier is Reborn” it tells a visual story of the usage of the pier since its repair.

Battery Park Fishing Pier:

The engineering firm of Baskerville-Donovan, Inc. (BDI) oversee this project as well and awarded the construction contract was H.G. Harders & Sons out of Panama City, Florida. Construction includes a complete rebuild with a design that allow the pier panels to pop out during an elevated storm surge, for recovery and replacement afterward. The project is in progress with a scheduled completion date of mid October. We received funding for this project from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

ENGINEERING FEES: $201,177

CONSTRUCTION COST: $1,543,723

TOTAL FUNDING: $1,744,900

Battery Park Marina:Assigned to oversee this project was the engineering firm of Baskerville-Donovan, Inc. (BDI) and the construction contract was awarded to Poloronis Construction out of Apalachicola, Florida. Construction includes the tearing out and replacement of the launch pad, pilings, bulkhead, and piers. The project is substantially completed. The funding source was the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

ENGINEERING FEES: $54,000

CONSTRUCTION COST: $396,000

TOTAL FUNDING: $450,000

Veterans Park Commercial Dock:The project is underway with the City of Apalachicola providing the day-to-day inspection services. Awarded the construction contract is Marine Contracting Group out of Punta Gorda, Florida. Construction will include the tearing out and replacement of the old dock, pilings, and bulkhead. We received funding for this project from a combined source: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP). The completion date for the FEMA funded portion is December 2008, FRDAP April 2009, and FWC June 2009.

ENGINEERING FEES: $83,160

CONSTRUCTION COST: (FEMA-$153,260, FRDAP-$400,000 & FWC-$303,600)

TOTAL FUNDING: $940,020

Commission Report: August 5, 2008

The following are items discussed or acted upon by the Apalachicola City Council at our regular scheduled meeting held last night.

• Tabled a request made by the Chamber of Commerce to close a portion of road for their annual Oyster Roast until the item can be placed on the September meeting agenda for public discussion.

• City Administrator Betty Taylor-Webb announced that she and Chief Bobby Varnes, Jr., would be working together to conduct random drug tests on police officers and other city employees.

• After receiving complaints from residents in the area, the council instructed Chief Varnes to discourage the non-traditional use and activites at the Park located on Sixth Street adjacent to the Franklin Square Recreation Center.

• City Grant Writer, Cindi Giametta informed the Board that she submitted on behalf of the city and was awarded an $86,000 grant to perform electrical work at the Battery Park Marina, and that the grant application from the Florida Department of Elder Affairs for the construction and renovation of Senior Citizen Centers was submitted.

• Attorney Pat Floyd discussed the request made by the Supervisor of Elections office to address the problems associated with the current city run-off elections. Click HERE to read the letter received from the supervisor of election office.

• Commissioner Jimmy Elliott initiated and moved to designate July 12 as Jimmy Mosconis Day in the City of Apalachicola and to rename a portion of the Street that runs through the Orman House State Park after Mosconis.

• By way of a motion, city commissioners instructed the planning and zoning board to delayed working on revisions to the Riverfront zoning until after updates to the City’s economic development plan are completed. The last update to the plan was in 1989 as an element of the Land Development Code.

McCoy Selected Chair

Rose E. McCoy was selected to head the new Apalachicola Citizens Budget Committee. At their first official meeting held August 4, budget committee members unanimously agreed to have Ms. McCoy serve as Chair of the group. She previously served the Apalachicola community from 1988-1993 as City Commissioner over the finance department. She is a local business owner and operator of M&M Monument, a retired schoolteacher and principal over Chapman Elementary School.

Other committee members include the current finance commissioner Frank Cook, Jim Philyaw, Rita Sawyer, and Dick Dosik.

The committee will now meet again on August 11, just one day prior to the City Commission holding its first budget workshop.

Regular Meeting: August 5, 2008

The regular scheduled meeting of the Apalachicola Board of City Commissioners is set for 6:00 PM on Tuesday, August 5, 2008, at the Community Center in Battery Park located at 1 Bay Avenue. Click HERE to review the agenda for that meeting.

City Employee Salaries

CAUTION: “The City of Apalachicola is an open and transparent government.”

Employee salaries are a very important and necessary expense in running a government. Also, as a taxpayer you are entitled to know how much and where your tax dollars are going. City Officials will spend over 1.4 million dollars this fiscal year on payroll for 39 employees including commissioners.

Click HERE to see a detailed breakdown on how much each city employee earns. Salaries listed include the base annual pay, overtime where applicable, FICA, retirement, plus health, life and dental insurance for FY 2007/08. Overtime is current as of June 30, 2008.

You should’ve Been There

For nearly three hours this past Thursday, July 31, candidates running for county offices and Circuit Judge met with voters at the Franklin Square Recreation Center for a political forum sponsored by the H’COLA group.

Pastor David Walker, from Covenant Word Christian Center moderated the event and fielded questions from the more than 100 people present at the forum. The questions covered a broad range of subjects from stability in our public school system to equity in the enforcement of drug related crimes.

Walker allotted each candidate two-minutes to introduce him or herself and to share their positions with the voters.

Beginning the evening were the candidates that are running unopposed for reelection, in attendance were - Clerk of Circuit Court, Marcia Johnson (Dem) and County Commission Chairman, Noah Lockley, Jr., (Dem).

Also in attendance were three nonpartisan candidates for Circuit Judge for the Second Judicial Circuit, which include Franklin County, Group 3- David Frank and Group 16– incumbent Judge Angela Dempsey and Bill Miller, both Frank and Miller are practicing attorney’s.

In the County at-large races attending were all three candidates for Sheriff – Bruce Barnes (Rep), incumbent Sheriff Mike Mock (Dem), and Skip Shiver (Dem). The two candidates present and seeking the office of Supervisor of Elections were - Ida Cooper Elliott (Dem) and Renee Shiver Griffin (Dem). Those candidates present and running for Property Appraiser were - Richard Harper (Rep) and incumbent Property Appraiser Doris Pendleton (Dem). Lastly, three of the four candidates vying for Superintendent of Schools, Denise Butler (Rep), Nina Marks, (Dem), and Temolynn Wintons (Dem) attended. The fourth candidate Will Kendrick (NPA) was out of town and could not make the forum.

You should have been there as each candidate shared enough about himself or herself and their vision for the offices they are seeking to arm the 100 plus crowd with the necessary information to make informed decisions come Election Day.

However, you may have yet another chance to attend. At the conclusion of the forum Elinor Mount-Simmons, President of H’COLA announced plans for a similar forum for candidates that remain in the race after the August 26 primary.