BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Union County leaders thanked state legislators for funding the county’s new public safety complex, now under construction, and asked them to keep on track plans for a new Lake Butler Elementary school. County officials also requested up to $1.8 million for courthouse repairs.
State Senator Jennifer Bradley and representative Chuck Brannen met with Union County officials for a legislative delegation meeting on Wednesday, January 8, at the Lake Butler City Hall.
Oldest jail in Florida
Sheriff Brad Whitehead pointed out that he oversees the oldest jail in the state and thanked both lawmakers for the facility’s replacement, which is now under construction.
He added that the first phase of the public safety complex, the 911 center, is nearly complete. Whitehead said the county will soon open bids for the jail portion of the project, and he estimated that construction would be completed in 18 months.
“My concern has always been inflation,” he told the two lawmakers, “but I feel like inflation’s leveling off. So, I’m hoping and praying that that’s a $14 million project and we’re thinking that should cover it. We’re hoping and praying. So we’re good.”
Whitehead added that the current jail has 32 beds and cannot house women. The new facility will nearly triple the capacity and allow the sheriff to stop sending female inmates to Bradford County for detention.
“It’s going to be great for the staff, great for the inmates, great for everyone,” he said.
Solar farm complaints
County Commissioner Melissa McNeal asked Bradley and Brannen to give control of solar farms zoning and approvals back to the counties.
Bradley responded by briefing the audience on the topic and promising a bill to fulfill McNeal’s request.
The senator said that a 2021 bill allowed solar farms on land zoned agricultural, and counties could not object to their construction,
“They could require buffers,” Bradley added, “but only to the extent they required it for every other structure on an ag. piece of property.”
Bradley said solar farms have proliferated, and communities have no ability to manage their consequences.
“The buffers are insufficient,” she said. “You have neighbors who are worried about their property values, you have landscape issues with topsoil runoffs and different things, and the counties just don’t have a seat at the table.”
She said she is working with the Small Counties Coalition to draft a bill to address the issues.
“We’ve got to have some solar, and that is good, but the counties need to be able to have a voice in both how much solar can come in on the ag. land and have the ability to preserve the characters of their communities and protect neighbors and things like that”.
Courthouse flooding
County Coordinator Jimmy Williams told Bradley and Brannen that during Hurricane Debbie, the courthouse’s roof allowed so much water into the building that his staff had to take drastic measures.
“It’s an extremely old building,” he said. “Y’all did help us get the historic preservation grant two years ago, but that cost estimate at the time and with inflation, it was just nowhere near enough to replace the roof.”
He added that water damage also affects the building’s air quality. He estimated the cost of repairing the courthouse to be between $1.4 million and $1.8 million.
County Judge Mitchell Bishop also stressed the need for courthouse repairs, telling the legislators that the building was built in 1936 during the Roosevelt Administration.
“The wings were added probably somewhere in the sixties or seventies and renovated in the nineties,” he said. “I’m pretty confident that some of the wooden windows on the second floor of the original part of the building are from 1936, and they are rotting out.”
Bishop said that water damage to the structure significantly increased during the last two hurricanes.
Keep new school on track
Schools Superintendent Mike Ripplinger reminded the lawmakers that the Florida Department of Education’s Special Facility Construction Committee ranked Lake Butler Elementary School as its highest priority project.
“So, we are very delighted, and now we just have to get it through the legislative process, and that’s where we’re going to really need you guys to kind of do that,” he said, “especially, not only with the committees that you’re currently on but also your colleagues.”
He added that the $88.5 million price tag would completely replace the current school, built in 1957.
Ripplinger also asked the lawmakers to loosen the state’s stringent requirements for school opening and closing times. He said that now, local schools start at 8 a.m., and the upcoming requirement that starting time be pushed to 8:30 would burden Union County families.
Ripplinger also asked for more flexibility in how school districts spend school safety funds.
Lake Butler needs water storage
Lake Butler Mayor Melissa Hendrix told Bradley and Brannen that the city is seeking $280,000 to cover a water storage tank grant shortfall. She explained that the $875,000 grant the city won for the project is now over a quarter of a million dollars short due to inflation.
Hendrix also said the city needs to replace its wastewater treatment plant, adding that the Department of Corrections uses 77% of its capacity.
