BY MELISSA PYLE
Special to the Telegraph
Lawtey City Council began the March meeting with a welcome to the new city attorney, Dan Sikes.
Sikes has served as the city’s attorney in the past and has more than 30 years’ experience in governmental law. Sikes kept the meeting on task with advice on procedures, public comment time allotment and board member voting.
Councilwoman Debra Norman addressed the board regarding her absence at the February meeting and her request to have a citizen speak on her behalf. Sikes interjected and said that department reports can be given on behalf of a member who is unable to attend, but the report should be given in advance to the council. No one can vote by proxy for a council member.
Norman responded that she had sent a list of items to the city clerk via text prior to the February meeting. For future reference, council members were advised to write an official report and submit it to the city clerk prior to meetings.
Scott explains
Before addressing the city’s financials, Mayor Jimmie Scott asked Sikes if he should address public comments regarding his actions at the February meeting. Sikes said that was at his discretion, but the mayor needed to be careful to not allow personal conflicts to distract from the city’s time to handle business.
Scott stated he wanted to respond to the concerns raised. He went on to say that raising his voice and pounding the desk at the previous meeting were in response to Councilwoman Emily Hoffman interrupting the time of another council member.
Scott moved on to approve previous bills. Finances for the month of January, included a year-to-date deficit of $26,569 in the general fund.
Streets and sanitation
Councilwoman Amy Blom presented the council with the cost to purchase cold patch materials from Jackson Building Supply in the amount of $1,161.56. The motion to purchase was approved. Blom also made a motion to change the monthly meeting time to 6 p.m. Norman questioned the change. Blom said there are citizens who have told her they would like to attend, but the meetings often last until after 9 p.m. Upon advice from the attorney, Blom decided to table the issue until all board members are present.
Water and sewer
Councilwoman Virginia Warner requested advertising for continuing engineering services. Warner requested to have a meeting to review all bids on March 26. All bids are due by March 21.
Police and fire
Maj. Nathan Blom asked Sikes about the timeline he and the city clerk have to respond to public records requests. Sikes said the timeline to respond to those requests must be done in a reasonable amount of time and that can be up to a couple of weeks. Responding to records requests does not supersede the responsibilities of the department. There is also a reasonable cost associated with the reports.
Bradford County Fire Rescue Division Chief Dylan Rodgers presented the council with the long awaited interlocal agreement from the county. Sikes said he needed to review it for legal compliance before the council could vote to approve it.
Rodgers also said the county had received new funding that will help create a community resource paramedic program. The program will be paid for with opioid lawsuit settlement funding.
Rodgers also thanked the council for replacing the lights in the bays and said February had been a busy month for the station with 210 calls.
Recreation
Norman said the recreation department will be hosting a quarterly Coffee Talk on March 12 from 9-11 a.m. at the Recreation Building and the Health and Wellness Resource Hub on March 14 from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Norman said the department was getting quotes for fencing to complete the repairs around the park. The best estimate was from Home Depot in the amount of $2,600. Norman suggested using ARPA funding for the project because the fencing is considered a health and safety issue.
She requested the playground equipment be cleaned monthly and said there is a need for new mulch around play equipment. The department also needs to appoint new board members, but Norman wants to meet with the city attorney to be clear on department procedures before appointing new members.
The recreation department will have its next meeting on March 25 at 6 p.m. at Lawtey City Hall.
Meeting policies
The meeting came to close after Sikes addressed the policies and procedures of council meetings. Sikes said the city needed to formalize the procedures so no member of the council or the citizens could take control of a meeting and distract from the issues at hand.
He said there needs to be more “formal decorum.” Without these rules of decorum, people have used the meetings to hurl insults and have debates that are of a personal nature. The purpose of council meetings is to address formal issues of government business, he said.
The next council meeting will be April 1 at 7 p.m.
