BY MELISSA PYLE
Telegraph Staff Writer
LAWTEY – The Lawtey City Council meeting on Aug. 7 covered multiple topics, but the meeting began with County Commissioner Carolyn Spooner requesting a time and location for her strategic planning meetings.
These meetings are to discuss the county’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Spooner strongly encourages the community to attend. She wants to hear feedback from citizens on ways to improve Bradford County. The meeting was approved and scheduled for Monday, Aug. 21 at 6 p.m. in the Lawtey Community Center.
Bradford County Supervisor of Elections Amanda Seyfang was also in attendance. Seyfang asked the council for permission to use the newly renovated Lawtey Community Center as the polling location for the county’s future elections. Recent redistricting has allowed for these changes.
Seyfang proposed that the two current polling locations be moved into a one newer and renovated space. The previous locations were First United Methodist Church and the Macedonia Freewill Baptist Church. These locations are older, and Seyfang asked the council to consider the renovated community center be used because the location offers better parking and facilities for poll workers and voters. Having a single polling location is also more cost efficient.
The council approved this proposal, and the new location will go into effect beginning with the first election of 2024, which is on March 19. This new location will be in use for the next 10 years, and voters will be notified by mail of the change.
Reddish and White presented the city audit. The audit manager stated that Lawtey stayed within their budget on the general fund. No surprises were found, and any negatives were due to awaiting grant funds. He also said they would like to see a positive in the city’s operating income because it would show they are putting money aside for future repairs.
Councilwoman Emily Hoffman asked to see a list of depreciated items. There were 15 adjustments from cash to accrual in the general fund, but that was due to grant money that was put in the general fund for use on specific projects. The auditor asked for the city to make these adjustments prior to the audit.
The council accepted the single engineering proposal for its water project. The only firm that offered a proposal was Midtown Associates. They have done work for the city over the last 18 years. The representative from the firm suggested that they were the only firm to offer a proposal because many of the larger firms in the state do not want to offer services to small towns. The city has several water problems, the largest being the water main.
The existing water plant in Lawtey is over 40 years old. It has undergone repairs as recent as five years ago. Hoffman expressed concerns over the age of the current holding tank and doesn’t want to “put a bandaid on a blowout”.
Currently the project under consideration is analyzing the water plant and the distribution system. The new distribution system will be for the east side of Lawtey which is across the railroad and includes the prison. It will also allow for much needed improvements to the plumbing to fire hydrants. The firm presented the design and planning portion of the project. The firm requested to be the town’s formal engineer. The cost should be funded by grants and not to the town. The FDEP approval deadline is fast approaching, and the council approved the design plan which is estimated to cost $566,000. The actual construction of the project is estimated to cost $4.5 million.
After all the presentations, the council opened the floor for public participation. Vyunda Strong voiced concern over the use of the recreation building by the public. She asked if there was a liability waiver for people who rent the community center. Recently, someone was stung by wasps at the center, and she asked if this needed to be reported. City attorney Aaron Dukes said he would read and make any necessary revisions to the current rental agreement and liability waiver.
One other public participant was a Clay County man, James Otto. He came to voice his complaints over what he felt was the lack of signage for the school zone in Lawtey. He was given a ticket in January of this year that he planned to contest, but he wanted to address the council about the need for more speed warning signs by the school.
This brought up the recent traffic camera proposal at the July meeting. The program uses cameras to issue $100 citations to anyone going more than 11 miles over the posted speed limit during school hours. Dukes said that after reading the contract, it is clear the city will not incur any cost unless the program is canceled within the first 12 months, but the wording on when the one-year contract would begin is vague. The council members expressed some concerns they’d heard from the public and would like more time to get the public’s input before a final vote is cast to approve this program.
The public is asked to attend upcoming meetings in Lawtey to address the school zone and budget items. These meetings will be Aug. 15 and 22 and Sept. 12 and 26 at 6 p.m. The next monthly council meeting is on Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. Contact city hall for more information.
Councilwoman Debra Norman said the recreation department will continue to collect school supplies until the end of September. Councilwoman Amy Blom proposed putting the old lawn equipment up for auction with a starting bid of $1,500 and for the purchase of new weed eaters at a cost of $1,127. The council approved her recommendations. The public auction will be advertised.
