BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
The City of Lake Butler may soon be home to a cellular phone tower, which would provide better reception for local residents and bring funds into the city’s coffers.
At its Aug. 20, 2024, regular meeting, the Lake Butler City Commission heard a live video presentation from Arcadia Towers, a company that builds cell towers and then rents space on them for equipment from service providers.
The company representative told commissioners that his company specialized in partnering with small cities and school districts, leasing land from these government entities to build towers on and sharing the profit made from the payments of service providers.
The proposed towers would be located on city property. Two locations proposed would be on city hall property and another southwest of the city near the old airstrip. A third tower, location to be determined, would need to be placed somewhere within 1-1½ miles of the other two to ensure complete coverage.
Construction of the towers could also be done on private property, but then the city would not benefit financially as the funds would go to the property owner.
Commissioner Joe Stapleton said he estimated the city’s share of the profit to be about $475 a month for each tower/tenant (provider). He also noted that the city could be paid for maintaining the fenced area around the tower, garnering more income.
A motion was made by Commissioner Fred Sirmones to have City Attorney John Maines look into the possibility of competitive offers and also look over the agreement proposed by Arcadia Towers. The motion passed the board unanimously.
In other discussion and action, the Lake Butler City Commission:
Recreation grant
Heard a report from Andy Easton, of Andy Easton Associates about an opportunity for the city to apply for a Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP) grant for work on Lakeside Park and another grant for work on the Townsend Building.
Easton said the city is a good candidate for the FRDAP funds, which is very flexible in how the funds are used. Possible uses could include renovations to the playground area and other parks of the park. He said that he needed commission approval to apply for the funds. The commission approved the application unanimously.
Eston also reported that an engineering firm would come to the next regular meeting to report on the proposed use of funds from a new grant applied for to help make necessary repairs to the historic building.
The board then unanimously approved, on second reading, an ordinance to rezone the property where the old public works building was located from residential to commercial. This will allow the building and property to be sold as a commercial property, already zoned as such, thus allowing the city to recoup funds spent on the development of the building by the former city manager.
Tax millage and rental fees
The commission voted unanimously to keep the ad valorem tax millage charge by the city at 3.25 mills with no rollback.
Also, a topic of discussion was the matter of rental fees and restrictions on the scheduling of the city’s rental properties. The board, after voting several months ago to raise the rental fees to be more in line with what other governmental bodies in the area are charging. Originally the board agreed to honor the existing fees/rental agreements already made, but then it came to their attention that some of these paid reservations were dated four or more years in advance. Discussion first addressed creating a limit on how far in advance reservations would be accepted then moved the the question if reservations made before the reservations were made should be charged the new rates or those in effect when the reservation was made. The setting of a limit to how far in reservations would be accepted in the future was tabled until the next meeting.
Motion was made by Commissioner Rondoll Huggins that all should pay the current rate for the rentals and not be “grandfathered” to what the rates were at the time the reservation was made and his motion passed the board unanimously.
Updates to city policies
During the meeting several resolutions were passed to update language in city policies and documents to comply with state and federal guidelines. Not changing the language could result in the city not being eligible for certain grants (such as CDBG) and FEMA funding. All these resolutions passed unanimously.
Commissioners also unanimously agreed to donate $500, to be taken out of the salaries, to the Union County High School Spirit of Union County Band.
The board also adopted a resolution accepting the donation of the hold jail holding cell, made by the Whitehead and O’Steen families.
City Finance Director Dave Mecusker informed the board during his report that in the city budget was in balance and he was working on the budget for the coming new fiscal year. He said he has also been working with the auditors on their recommendations for more transparency and separation of fund into individual line items.
As the meeting ended, commissioners thanked all the city workers for the many hours they worked during the time the area was under the effects of Hurricane Debbie and complemented them on the thoroughness and speed of their work.
