BY MELISSA PYLE
Special to the Telegraph
Lawtey city councilmembers seem prepared to support the county commission’s plan to help fund fire rescue services through a new special assessment.
Bradford County commissioners need the council’s approval to collect the assessment within the city limits. Councilmembers approved the first reading of an ordinance granting that permission at their July 1 meeting.
The county has yet to set the amount of the assessment. (See related story.)
With this potential new revenue source for the county, Lawtey wants to make sure its costs for maintaining the local fire station are not borne solely by Lawtey taxpayers.
Bradford Fire Rescue Chief Ben Carter attended to report the cost associated with the Lawtey Fire Station. Councilmembers Debra Norman and Virginia Warner had requested these costs before the city signed a new memorandum of understanding from the county regarding the fire station.
Warner stated she was still not ready to vote last week because she would like a workshop to discuss these costs. The Lawtey station services all of northern Bradford County, and Warner had concerns the city budget would be shouldering all of these costs.
“We, the citizens of Lawtey, are bearing the costs of everything which benefits the whole north end of Bradford County,” Warner said. “The whole north end is paying that $300 a month assessment along with our citizens, and I think it’s a burden that shouldn’t be carried, a load on the taxpayers, the citizens of Lawtey.” (See related story on the potential cost of the assessment.)
A workshop with Chief Carter was set for July 16.
A second reading and approval of Lawtey’s ordinance is required to finalize collection of the assessment.
Garbage service suspended
After some minor research, Councilwoman Amy Blom and attorney Dan Sikes discovered the establishment of an HOA for residents of Brandon Road. This HOA is responsible for costs associated with road maintenance and repairs.
Sikes explained that the city has easements on Brandon Road, but it is a private road and it would be a large financial cost to the city to take over and repair the road. Sikes went on to explain there are roads currently owned by the city that need maintenance first.
The city still had to make a decision on providing garbage pickup to Brandon Road residents. Current road conditions are causing damage to the city’s dump truck. Councilwoman Emily Hoffman asked several questions in relation to the city’s responsibility to provide utilities to residents. She asked Sikes if trash pickup was considered a required utility, he said in this instance it is not.
Currently, residents have the option to take their own trash to the dump. The city does provide water to the residents of Brandon Road, but water is a required utility and the meters are read just once a month. The meter readers access the road in a smaller vehicle that doesn’t sustain as much damage as the city’s dump truck does when it is driven on Brandon Road on a weekly basis.
As the meeting continued and more details were discussed, the council decided it was best to vote to suspend garbage pickup for residents of Brandon Road until the road is repaired. Residents will be sent a 45-day notice of this change.
In other business:
—councilmembers approved spending $8,000 in ARPA funds to replace street signs, polls and related hardware.
—City Clerk Lisa Harley scheduled multiple hearing dates and workshops to discuss and approve the budget.
—Norman thanked local residents, the Moores, for cleaning out the canals on Grove Street as a free service to the city.
—the next Community Health and Wellness Resource Hub is July 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lawtey Recreation Center.
