BY TRACY LEE TATE
Times Editor
LAKE BUTLER — The Union County Board of Commissioners has established its committee assignments for the coming year and each member stands ready to serve county residents with any business they may have with the various entities with which the county deals.
Each commissioner deals with several committees while representing the county. Citizens with a problem that need the consideration of a specific committee should start the process by contacting the commissioner who is a member of it. The assignments may vary from year to year, with certain commissioners requesting to stay in a position they are familiar with. For the coming 2021-22 fiscal year, Commissioner Channing Dobbs made motion to keep all the assignments the same as the previous year and the commission voted unanimously in the affirmative on the matter. The list is presented below as a convenience to the Times readers.
Commission Chairman Jimmy Tallman will represent Union County as a member representative of the North Florida Regional Planning Council, the New River Solid Waste Association and the New River Public Library Cooperative.
Commissioner Willie Croft will represent the board as the member for the Union County Public Library and the Suwannee River Economic Council (SREC).
Commissioner Channing Dobbs will represent the board as a member for the New River Solid Waste Association and the New River Public Library Cooperative.
Commissioner Lacey Cannon will represent the board as an alternate for the Union County Public Library and the SREC. He will also serve as a member for SHIP (new construction and rehab, the North Florida Economic Development Partnership and the Small County Coalition.
Commissioner Ryan Perez will represent the board for the Florida Crown Workforce, the Transportation for the Disadvantaged Board, the alternate for the New River Public Cooperative.
County Coordinator Jimmy Williams will serve as a second county representative for the North Florida.
As for the board itself, Commissioner Jimmy Tallman will serve another term as chairman, while Commissioner Channing Dobbs will serve a second term as vice-chair.
The board of commissioners is also looking at implementing a special assessment for EMS and fire services for businesses in addition to the one already charged annually to homeowners as a part of their property (ad valorem) taxes.
J.R. Davis spoke to the commission at its Nov. 15 meeting during the public comment period, appealing to them to implement the assessment on businesses. He asked that the board hold a workshop on the matter to set an amount that will be consistent with what other counties are charging and get in approved before the first of the year. The measure would affect only businesses in the county, there would be no change in what other property owners are paying.
Commission Chairman Jimmy Tallman said that the matter had been brought up at several previous meetings and he agreed that it was time that the board took action on the matter.
“I am a business owner, and I am in favor of the assessment,” Tallman said. “Should I have need of these services they would be there for me, just as they would for any homeowner, and I do not want to continue having a free-ride while others are having to pay for it.”
County Coordinator Jimmy Williams told the board that when the special assessment was first implemented in 1987 businesses were required to pay as well as homeowners but that in 1989 the ordinance creating the assessment was redone with the assessment for businesses being removed. He said that to make the change back to assessing businesses would have to be done through a board resolution.
County Attorney Russ Wade said that there had never been a repeal of the original ordinance from 1987, with the 1989 change being done by a resolution setting the business assessment at $0. He agreed with Williams that the board must approve a resolution to change the business assessment from $0 to the agreed upon amount.
Williams responded that he would like to see the new assessment of businesses approved and be in effect on the next tax cycle and to do so it would require commission approval before Jan. 1, 2022. To make this happen, the board has set a workshop to deal with the matter for Dec. 23, 2021 at 12 p.m.
In other discussion and action, at its Dec. 15 meeting, the Union County Board of County Commissioners:
- Recognized EMS employees Tita Munguia and Mark Maca (who was not able to be present at the meeting) for volunteering their time to assist the Union County High School JROTC with required emergency medical presence at recent rappelling training.
- Heard a report from Williams concerning grants the county will be receiving and are under consideration for. He said that the fire department had qualified to receive a grant of $15,207 – enough to purchase five sets of firefighter turn-out gear. The new equipment will replace old, worn out sets and help to keep UC firefighters safe. Williams said the county will, once again, receive $25,000 for its annual tire amnesty event, where residents can bring in old tire and dispose of them without having to pay a fee. He also mentioned that the county had placed fifth out of 17 applicants for a Department of Agriculture grant of $750,000 to be used to enlarge and improve the UC Agricultural Education complex.
- Heard a report from UF/IFIS UC Extension Agent Luke Harlow about 4-H participation in the county. He told the board that in 2019 there were 134 young people participating in 4-H programs, a number that dropped to 72 in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. HE said he was pleased to report that membership was up again in the organization, with 151 young people participating in 2021. He noted that the Duval County 4-H program currently had 155 youngsters involved. He also mentioned that the 2022 Union County Livestock Association was expecting 181 young people to participate in the UCLA 2022 Fair, a much higher number than for the 2021 fair.
