BY MELISSA PYLE
Telegraph Staff Writer
LAWTEY — The city of Lawtey convened its first meeting of 2023 on Jan. 3, and almost every seat was full at the meeting, with many residents there eager to see the two new council members sworn in later in the evening.
Mayor Jimmie Scott opened the floor to questions and one resident, Vyunda Strong, stood up, and confronted the council for neglecting to show up at the recent Bradford County Legislative Delegation Meeting on Dec. 19.
Strong said when she realized no one from Lawtey’s council was there to represent, she stood up for representation of Lawtey when the city was called.
Strong was openly frustrated with the lack of representation because the city of Lawtey has been in a long process of securing funds for much needed infrastructure projects.
With the topic of money at the forefront, Councilwoman Emily Hoffman spoke up and voiced her concerns over transparency in the billing and bookkeeping of the city. There was a lot of mumbling amongst the crowd when Hoffman began to speak on these issues and there were some accusations directed towards the job of the city and its bookkeeping practices.
This prompted Mayor Scott to request to schedule another meeting for Jan. 23 where these personal issues and complaints can be handled amongst the employees and the council members and he insisted there was no point in wasting any more time at the public meeting in progress.
Councilman Tim Maulkey stated that an ad had been placed for a new maintenance man, but there were some who disagreed over the best place to advertise for this job. Councilwoman Hoffman asked the crowd if they had any suggestions for better advertising and no one had any suggestions.
Mulkey also said that the grant for new water meters was in the works and this should be moving forward soon. Scott said this has been several years in the making and the city is still in the process of securing all funds needed for the project.
City Clerk Lisa Harley said that many of the grants are needed just to secure funds for design and engineering fees for these projects.
Police Chief Jerry Feltner presented Nathan Blom with the keys to the new police truck. Feltner also discussed a new ordinance that will impose violations for semi-trucks who use “jake brakes” unnecessarily.
This prompted City Councilwoman Debra Norman to ask if this fine would be for any time a loud brake is used and stated there are times when a large truck has to quickly make stops. Chief Feltner assured her that was not the case, but that tickets and fines would be for unnecessary use, and only if the driver is caught by a law enforcement officer would a fine be issued.
Ben Carter of Lawtey’s Fire and Rescue Department reported that in the months of November and December there were 426 calls, 11 structure fires, two brush fires, and 295 medical calls. Also mentioned was the flooding issue at the firehouse had been resolved since the completion of a new drainage pipe.
Councilwoman Debra Norman used much of her allotted time to give what she called, “a heartfelt speech” to the citizens of Lawtey. She stated that she would love to see a nice welcome sign installed for Lawtey, see the community work together to help others, have a city website built, and address the stray animal problem.
Councilwoman Sabrina Roberts was absent due to illness, but it was announced that there will be a Recreation Department meeting on Jan. 9.
The regular meeting was adjourned and a new meeting began with the swearing in of two new Lawtey Councilwomen, Amy Blom and Virginia Warner.
As the first order of business, the two new council members began their positions by taking part in the re-election of Mayor Jimmie Scott. The new council also voted Virginia Warner to be the new vice mayor. Aaron Dukes was the only candidate for city attorney and he agreed to stay on in this position.
Mayor Scott moved on to the appointment of city departments. Those appointments are as follows: Scott—finance; Warner—water and sewer; Blom—streets and sanitation; Norman—recreation; Hoffman—fire department.
As the meeting was coming to a close, the booking issues were brought up again by Norman. She questioned the credentials of the bookkeeper and after a few heated moments, said she would be airing her concerns at the special scheduled meeting on Jan. 23.
