KH manager officially resigns

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— City Manager Lynn Rutkowski emailed her letter of resignation to city council members on March 22, with an effective date of June 29. Rutkowski offered a verbal resignation during February but agreed to stay on the job and reconsider after urging from Vice Mayor Steve Hart and council … Read more

County loses $15k due to record-keeping omissions

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor GREEN COVE SPRINGS—Clay County Sheriff’s Office CFO Vicki Adams told Clay County Commissioners that because the office did not properly track administrative costs for a grant, the county must forfeit $15,662.75 of grant funds. The $313,255 grant was from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and paid for the installation of … Read more

FHP: man hit by car while pumping gas

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor STARKE— The Florida Highway Patrol said a 26-year-old man was driving east on Southeast 144th Avenue in Bradford County during the evening of Tuesday, March 22, drove across State Road 100 and into the parking lot of a Circle K gas station. The SUV hit the front of a parked … Read more

Water from Black Creek to flow south in August 2024

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, March 25, 2022— The executive director of the Lake Region Development Corporation said the Black Creek Water Resource Development Project is still on track to break ground in August and should be operational two years later. Scott Kornegay said during the March 24 meeting of a Clay Chamber … Read more

New chamber head visits KH

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, Friday, March 25, 2022— The new leader of the Clay County Chamber of Commerce stopped by the chamber’s Lake Region Prosperity Council meeting Thursday night at Keystone’s Cedar River Sea Food. The chamber’s board of directors appointed Dana Heisler as director of operations after the departure of President … Read more

Man arrested for spanking 6-year-old

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—Clay deputies arrested William James Costello, 38, of Immokalee Road on March 22 for cruelty toward a child. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the child’s mother reported bruising on the 6-year-old after the boy visited his father over a weekend in January. The father sent a text message … Read more

High Ridge cleanup yields 4.5 tons of debris

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor GREEN COVE SPRINGS— Clay County Commissioner Betsy Condon told her colleagues that a recent county-led cleanup of the High Ridge Estates neighborhood east of Keystone Heights resulted in 1.76 tons of trash and 2.81 tons of tires being removed from an area on Baylor Avenue. She added that the cleanup … Read more

Clay looks to fishing tournaments for tourism growth

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor GREEN COVE SPRINGS— The agency that runs Clay County’s efforts to attract sporting events said the county is seeking to host fishing tournaments as a way to increase overnight hotel stays in Clay County.   Alan Verlander of Airstream Ventures told the Clay Tourist Development Council that the county is … Read more

Orange Park couple wins Clay Electric’s car giveaway

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Clay Electric announced prize winners and trustee elections results before its March 26th annual meeting. Ryan and Jaclyn Palmer of Orange Park won the grand prize, a 2016 Ford Fusion in the co-op’s annual meeting trustee election prize drawing. The co-op said this is the 24th consecutive year … Read more

Clay preservation board updated on three historical markers

BY DAN HILDEBRAN Monitor Editor GREEN COVE SPRINGS— Clay County’s preservation board heard updates on three historical markers proposed for the county, during the board’s March 17 meeting. Mary Justino from the clerk’s office proposed a historical marker for the Branon Naval Outer Landing Field. The WWII-era landing field southwest of Cecil Field consisted of … Read more