BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
LAKE BUTLER—The City of Lake Butler decided to allow Union County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Osborne and her staff to run the upcoming city election (June 25, 2024) with the technology she uses for the county elections in hopes of avoiding the controversy that arose from the last special election where the elections office administered the process but the electronic voting machines were not used, and there were several manual recounts of ballots necessary to arrive at the winner.
Vice-Mayor Melissa Hendrix made a motion to allow Osbourne to use the office’s DS200 electronic counting machine to arrive at the accurate determination of the winners. The motion passed the commission unanimously.
The meeting was much shorter than has been usual of late, lasting less than an hour. Only one citizen spoke during the public comments segment of the meeting – Lisa Huggins, representing the Lake Butler Woman’s Club, inquiring about the process and procedure of installing two culverts on the clubhouse property. Commission members told her they would see that the process was reviewed and that someone would contact her about what needed to be done.
The board unanimously approved the second amendment to the city budget for the year, effective Jan. 16, 2024. The amendments were necessary to move funds from an area where they were not needed to an area where they were (when a budget is written, it predicts where money will be needed, and adjustments must be made to move the money where there is more needed than predicted, from an area where less was needed). City Finance Director Dave Mecusker prepared the amendment. Commissioner Anette Redman made a motion to approve.
The commission heard a report from City Attorney John Maines concerning the new Form 6 financial disclosure document required by the state. The document requires a level of disclosure that many officials throughout the state have found to be intrusive, and the requirement has led to the resignations of numerous elected officials (since if they refuse to comply, they must resign or be removed from office). Among those resigning because of the new requirements are four of five members of the McIntosh City Council, the mayor and entire city council of Reddick, two city commissioners in Daytona Beach, and the vice-mayor of Naples. As it stands, none of the elected officials in the city have voiced any consideration of resigning.
During comments by the commission, Hendrix reminded the board that the Lake Butler Woman’s Clubs’ annual Valentine Luncheon would be held on Feb. 13 at the clubhouse.
