BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— City Manager Lynn Rutkowski said attendance at the city’s Fourth of July Celebration doubled in 2023 over the previous year.
The city manager made the announcement during a Monday, July 24 budget workshop.
She added that the numbers came from data brokers who are soliciting the city’s business. The brokers used pings from cell phones to count people at city hall and the surrounding area.
“From the time that they began set up for the (Freedom 5K) race through the time that the fireworks ended, and we were doing cleanup, we had 10,000 to 12,000 individual pings,” she said. “(The brokers) collect that data through apps or whatever you download on your cell phone. That was in the downtown area, so that was a huge event.”
Rutkowski added that similar data collection from last year’s Our Country Day indicated around 6,000 pings in the downtown area.
In other news from the July 24 budget workshop:
Heatwave generating calls to city hall
Rutkowski said around a dozen people have called city hall over the last week, saying their air conditioning has been overwhelmed by record heat.
“A lot of individuals who are new to the area, a lot of our elderly, they’re not sure who to call,” Rutkowski said. “They’re asking for numbers who can service their AC units.”
The city manager added that two of the municipality’s staff members had air conditioning that went out.
“It’s a matter of just making sure our community’s safe and then being able to say, okay, this is where you look for somebody who can service your AC unit. This is also where you can look if you need materials or supplies.”
Preliminary budget shows a deficit
Rutkowski told council members that the first draft of the 2023-2024 city budget forecasts a deficit of $53,000.
The city manager added that the projected deficit is due to her using last year’s revenue numbers because the state has not yet issued 2023-2024 revenue estimates.
“That number will fluctuate as we continue through the budget process,” she told council members. “This is just a skeleton (budget) that you can use to see where we fall at the moment.”
Splash Park, museum, new city hall lead wish list
As part of the budget workshop, Mayor Nina Rodenroth asked council members about their budget priorities for the coming year.
Councilman Steve Hart said he would like the city to look into a splash park.
“When we were up in Wisconsin, there’s this splash park directly across the street from my daughter’s and son-in-law’s house, and that place was packed,” he said. “Always with kids from like 9:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night. Parents were there, grandparents.”
Hart added that such a park in Keystone Heights has community support, and he wants the council to prioritize the facility.
Hart also said the council should further develop stormwater drainage plans within the municipality.
Rutkowski told Hart that as part of the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization’s smart cities study for Keystone Heights, consultants will evaluate the city’s stormwater and drainage.
“And then from that study,” she said, “which should be conducted and completed by the summer of this year, we’ll be able to look and see if there’s…any other technical studies that we need to apply to get a good conceptual.”
Council member Tony Brown told his colleagues that he would like to look into moving the municipality’s tennis courts from behind city hall to Sunrise Park. He added that with already existing pickleball courts, a dog park, picnic tables, and open spaces, Sunrise Park could be enhanced as a recreational destination.
Brown also said the city’s growth will require replacing city hall.
“I know it’s not going to happen overnight,” he said, “but we need to work on building a new city hall. We might as well do a two-story one and offer services for the sheriff’s department to be in here (and other) county offices to be in here.”
Brown added that the new municipal building could house a museum and community center.
Brown also said the county library on Oriole Street is overdue for replacement.
Councilwoman Chris Thompson and Rodenroth said their priorities were to complete projects already undertaken by the city, such as the South Lawrence Boulevard streetscape project.
Rodenroth added that she wants the council to change its ordinances to allow the consumption of alcohol downtown.
“I know that there’s a lot of controversy about that subject,” the mayor said, “but I’d like to see something where people can go to a nice restaurant downtown (that offers) beer and wine.”
Heritage Commission member Deirdre Murphy asked the council to increase the commission’s budget from last year’s $4,000 to $5,000. She also requested a one-time 2023-2024 appropriation of $9,000 to establish a Keystone Heights museum.
Murphy said the commission hopes to purchase a 12 by 24-foot shed from a local dealer, then modify the structure with windows, doors, drywall, flooring, electrical, and air conditioning.
“The goal would be to have a small building surrounded maybe by a little white picket fence,” she said of the proposed museum. “We want to keep the charm of Keystone. We don’t want a two-story big structure that says we’re Orange Park, or we are Middleburg, or we are Gainesville. We want to keep that charm.”
