BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
LAKE BUTLER—As has become the norm, the public comment segment of the Nov. 20 regular meeting of the Union County Board of County Commissioners served to allow several citizens to tell the board their various complaints, which were varied and lengthy.
Before the public segment of the meeting proceeded, the board read and unanimously voted to adopt a written page of rules of decorum to be imposed on all who speak at the meetings. The rules apply to the public, the commissioners, and county staff as well. The new rules require all who speak in the meetings to pay heed to their language, attitude, and volume when addressing the board or each other.
Crowded, rowdy meetings
The new standards resulted from a meeting about three months ago where the number of citizens in attendance exceeded the seating capacity of the regular commission meeting room and made it necessary for some to stand outside in the hallway. Several people were speaking loudly in attempts to make sure they were heard. That situation escalated, and Board Chairman Ryan Perez told the group to settle down, or they would be removed by law enforcement. In response to the occurrence, commission meetings have been held in the main courtroom upstairs in the courthouse, which provides more seating capacity.
Emergency medical service complaint
Jackie Rossiter came to discuss her experience with Union County Emergency Medical Services when she needed transport from Lake Butler Hospital to a larger facility in Gainesville.
She told commissioners that the EMS staff who came to pick her up refused to transport her until they had the necessary medical paperwork. This situation took 18 minutes to resolve before they moved from her from Lake Butler. She also complained that the unit driver did not use the emergency lights in the City of Gainesville. She asked the commissioners to “please do something about emergency services.”
Emergency Medical Services Director Toby Witt spoke to the board in response to her complaints and said that it was a required procedure to wait to transport a patient until documentation of the patient’s treatment was in hand to be given to the staff at the receiving hospital.
Without it, he said, the receiving medical staff would not be aware of what tests had been done, their results, and what treatments, including medications, had been administered. He said this was critical to patient health so that time would not be wasted at the receiving hospital re-doing tests and also to prevent accidental overdoses and/or administration of antagonistic medication.
Regarding the non-use of lights in Gainesville, Witt said that unless the traffic is really heavy, running the lights usually creates more confusion than the speed of transport, as many people tend to slow down when they see an ambulance, even if it is behind them.
Can’t get 911 addresses, lights needed for fields
Two county residents spoke about the difficulties of getting 911 addresses for their new residences. Rachel Benton said she has been waiting for nine months to be assigned an address, tearfully blaming County Coordinator Jimmy Williams for the delay. Crystal Rosier spoke next, saying she had also been waiting for her address for seven months.
Next to speak was Union County Recreation Board member Vicky Johns, who reported to the board about the many young people participating in the athletic programs offered. “Baseball had record numbers this year, and we had a great season,” Johns said. “We got funding for lights for the t-ball fields, and now we desperately need lights for the football field because we have about 140 kids in those programs, and practices are held later because of the fall heat.”
Commissioner Mack Johns responded to her comments and informed the board that he had asked for $25,000 in funds for the lights for the field and that he might need another $6,000-7,000 to get them up and operating. He said that Tom Jenkins Electric would do the work. Williams entered the discussion saying that he needed the board to approve the receipt of another FRDAP grant ($190,000) and said it was likely that there would be some money available from it.
The final speaker of the evening was Sergio Fernandez, who asked the board if there was any progress on his complaints at the September meeting about some of his former co-workers and the medical care they were providing. He was assured that the matter had been investigated and that the board was satisfied with the results.
The public comment segment of the meeting was more restrained than in the past few months, and there were no problems with the participants’ conduct.
