Local

A company that runs a chain of adult novelty stores filed a lawsuit Friday in federal court against the City of Alachua challenging Ordinance 11-06 passed earlier this year which prevents the store from opening in a building that had been home to The Western Teepee several years ago.

The ordinance restricts the types of businesses allowed to operate within an area labeled the “Gateway Activity Center,” a 2,000-foot zone surrounding the intersection of Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway 441.

Alachua Retail 51, L.L.C., operating under the name of The Lions Den Adult Boutique is also seeking immediate injunctive relief from Ordinance 11-06 citing claims that not allowing the adult novelty to open would result in “irreparable injury.”

Representing The Lions Den is Attorney Gary Edinger, the same Gainesville attorney who represented owners of Adult World, another sexually-oriented business, which sued the City after it was not permitted to open in 2003.

City of Alachua Attorney Marian Rush said she received a telephone call from Edigner’s office asking if the City would agree not to enforce the ordinance which prevents the store’s opening.  Rush said she was presenting the matter to the commission for consideration.

Vice-Mayor Ben Boukari, Jr. said, “It would be laughable to think that we wouldn’t enforce an ordinance we passed and something that’s been in the works for several years and not just something that happened in the last six months.”

In February, The Lions Den submitted a partial application to the City to open its shop in the vacant building which front U.S. Highway 441.  Meanwhile, the City was in the throes of drafting an ordinance detailing the permitted types of businesses in the Gateway Activity Center area.  The City adopted a moratorium preventing any new businesses from opening in the 2,000-foot zone until the final ordinance could be completed.

Commissioners approved the Gateway Activity Center ordinance on May 23.  Sexually-oriented businesses were among those uses not allowed.

Monday, commissioners voted unanimously to continue enforcement of Ordinance 11-06.

The possible acquisition of the Canterbury Equestrian Center will be discussed Monday at 6 p.m., where Newberry Parks and Recreation Director Richard Blalock hopes to lay rumors to rest.

Blalock said there are rumors about the city buying the center to make it into another sporting facility, and removing the equestrian component from the property.  That is not the case with Canterbury, he said, since the main purpose of the purchase is to maintain the aesthetics of the building and keep it as the place to have equestrian events.

If Newberry were able purchase the property, Blalock said the purpose of the center would be expanded to host festivals and trade shows. Before the city commission considers purchasing the center, Blalock said the city wants its residents to be involved with the project.

“We are making sure everyone is on the same page,” he said.

Officials say a price and restoration budget has not been set for the equestrian center, since the Sept. 19 meeting will be the first step in determining Canterbury’s future if the City does indeed purchase it. Blalock said the money would probably come from a mix of private funding and the hotel bed tax.  County officials have already designated a portion of bed tax funds to Newberry’s $7 million Nations Baseball Park.

After one citizen raised concerns Monday evening about the status of the City’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center and the Triangle Park, City officials vowed to take community input on those recreation facilities during the town hall meeting slated for Sept. 19.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at the Oak View Middle School cafeteria, 1203 NW 250th Street in Newberry.

The city has no plans to remove the attorney. Instead, the commission will continue the relationship on a month-to-month basis.

Mayor Larry Travis said, “I think he’s done a great job. We’re getting a pretty good bang for our buck.”

Commissioner Dean Davis feels that continuing Depeter’s employment on a non-contract basis is the best path to take given High Spring’s current economic situation.

Retaining Depeter on a non-contractual basis relieves the city of buying out his contract should the city decide at some point to let him go. “I think the buy-out is one of the problems we’ve had with our budget this year,” Davis said. “We’ve had to spend so much money in the past two years on buy-outs.”

The City paid severance to former city manager Jim Drumm when he was terminated last year prior to his contract expiration date.  Just weeks ago, former police chief Jim Troiano was let go prior to his contract expiration, and he will be receiving severance pay as well.

Depeter said that severance pay allows the commission to not have to explain why it is releasing an employee, thus preventing legal action.

“It provides a certain level of security, but it doesn’t guarantee anything,” he said.

Charter officers like the city attorney exist at the discretion of the city commission. They can be terminated at any time if the commission deems it appropriate.

“A contract doesn’t make the appointment of someone as your city attorney; the city commission voted to appoint me as the city attorney,” Depeter said. “Just because the contract expires doesn’t mean the appointment expires.”

He explained that the only ways of terminating a city attorney’s employment are the attorney resigning or the commission following the appropriate procedure.

Depeter agreed to continue on without a contract, stating that his rates would remain the same as they had been.

“I enjoy working for the city, and I hope to continue to be your city attorney,” he said.

High Springs hired the city attorney in 2007 with a two-year contract. The contract was renewed in 2009 for another two years.

The changes proposed in a new contract were a reduction of early termination pay from three months to two and the removal of budgeting for training conferences.

Depeter’s contract expired on Saturday.

Changes were seen in many departments to make up the $77,466 loss expected to occur due to a projected reduction in ad valorem tax revenues. The reduction comes as a result of maintaining the 6.15 millage rate while overall property values declined.

Commissioner Dean Davis cautioned the board against excess expenditures.

“We’ve made a lot of changes in the budget, and we don’t know how it’s going to shake it,” he said. “The way things are financially, this is not the time to spend more money.”

Conflict arose over the appropriate action in the midst of resignation of Fire Chief Verne Riggall. The fire department is now run by Captain. Bruce Gillingham.

The city’s position of fire chief has been abolished. And Commissioner Sue Weller voiced her opposition at the meeting.

“It gives the impression that we’re getting rid of the fire department,” Weller said. “I think we’re going down the wrong road.”

The commission discussed reinstating the fire chief position to replace the captain position. However, that would require opening the job to general application and increasing the position’s salary.

The commission agreed that they would like to keep on Captain Gillingham.

Mayor Larry Travis said that he had spoken to citizens who wanted to keep the position, but he felt the City needed to consider Captain Gillingham in the final decision.

“He’s a valuable member of our community,” he said. “He’s a valuable member of our fire department.”

City Commissioner Eric May said that he did not think switching Captain. Gillingham’s job title was a logical step for the city.

“I’d like to keep as much continuity as possible,” he said. “It sounds like we’re going to go through some significant dollars and some things, you know, to shuffle things around; go through a hiring process and so forth, put some employees in uncomfortable positions just so we can call him five letters instead of seven letters.”

After considerable discussion, commissioners opted not to reinstate the position of Fire Chief at this time.

Weller voted against the budget, citing concerns over the Fire Department issues.

The budget and ad valorem tax will be put to a final vote at the Sept. 19 meeting, held at 6:30 p.m. at the High Springs City Hall.

Each Crystal Performance Award recipient ranked among the top two or three percent of all credit unions analyzed by RFG for two consecutive reporting periods. SunState Federal Credit Union was one of only 20 credit unions nationally to receive the award.

“We are very pleased to recognize those credit unions that have shown outstanding results this past year,” said Bill Handel, Vice President of Research and Product Development with RFG. “These organizations have consistently performed at a high-level and exhibit operational excellence in managing efficiency. Credit unions that receive this accolade tend to perform well despite the interest rate environment and challenges in their local economies.”

“It is an honor to be recognized by Raddon Financial Group for our continued devotion to maintaining high-performance standards,” said Jim Woodward, President/CEO of SunState Federal Credit Union. “Our commitment to exceptional member service and quality products set us apart in the market and helps better serve the needs of our diverse marketplace of consumers and small businesses. This award serves as positive reinforcement that our strategies are indeed industry best practices.”

City commissioners Robert Fillyaw and Alena Lawson opposed the budget reduction of the senior citizen program, Meals on Wheels, once residents in the meeting voiced their opposition.

Labeled as the Community Action Agency, Meals on Wheels shares a $22,000 budget with two other programs. The weatherization and temporary assistance program, which assists low-income families, would have been untouched, but Newberry’s Meals on Wheels would have been discontinued since it is funded primarily with this money.

Commissioners agreed that all funds for projects such as city fire works, listed to be around $2,000, and travel expenses for the city commission, around $6,530, would be redirected to the program instead.

Newberry residents also agreed with Newberry Fire Department Chief David Rodriguez about pay raises for city employees. He spoke out about not having a pay raise for several years.

“I’m working towards my retirement for the future, and I haven’t had a raise in four years,” he said.

Instead of having a one-time payout, which will only give city employees money for that particular year and does not contribute to retirement funds, Rodriguez said he would rather have a raise that would benefit him in the long run. The commission set aside $39,000 for the bonuses, but since the salary increase proposal ruled out the initial plan, the commission estimated that the budget would require an extra $6,000.

City commissioner Lois Forte agreed with Rodriguez about the raise, saying city employees are the backbone of Newberry.

“I think we have one of the best fire departments in the county,” she said. “If we can find money for other things, we can find money to give our employees a little raise.”

Initially the city budget had $6,280 in surplus funds, but it was all allocated to the pay raise.

Also on the agenda was the annexation of three properties, totaling nearly 39 acres.  City Commissioner Joe Hoffman did not vote as he owns two of the properties.

Projects such as the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and Triangle Park are still in the works, and the commission is requesting community input before final approval. A town hall meeting to discuss the projects is planned for Monday.