Local

NEWBERRY ‒ Alachua County’s proposed one percent Sales Tax Referendum took center stage in discussions between the City of Newberry and the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) during their joint meeting Monday, May 23. Having already presented the issue to three other municipalities with lukewarm receptions, county commissioners came armed with facts and figures to ask Newberry’s Commissioners to back the referendum.

Assistant County Manager Gina Peebles introduced the sales tax referendum, which ties together funding for the popular Wild Spaces and Public Places (WSPP) and the unpopular tax for roads.

In past years, Alachua County has asked voters to support a referendum for roads on two occasions, which was defeated both times. However, when they asked the citizens to approve the Wild Spaces and Public Places (WSPP) Referendum with a one-half percent sales tax in 2008 and again in 2016, it was approved.

Dec. 31, 2024, the WSPP one-half percent sales tax sunsets and many municipalities have expressed a desire to continue it. Funds from WSPP have been used throughout the County to improve recreation facilities and to support other related projects.

Voters will be asked on Nov. 8, 2022 whether they would like to extend the WSPP half-cent sales tax along with a half-cent sales tax dedicated to infrastructure through 2032.

The proceeds from the surtax will be split between the County and the municipalities, with each entity required to allocate half to WSPP projects such as parks and recreation, open space and natural resources; the other half will be allocated to other infrastructure projects including road improvements as defined in Florida’s statutes. Up to 15 percent of the non-WSPP half of the surtax may be used to fund economic development projects to improve the local economy.

Allowable projects can include but are not limited to land acquisition; land improvement; costs related to constructing or improving public facilities that have a life expectancy of five years or more; and land acquisition for a residential housing project in which at least 30 percent of the units are affordable to those with a household income not exceeding 120 percent of the area median income.

The county will get over half the funds and the rest distributed to municipalities based on population. The County will also allocate $6 million (half for WSPP projects and half for other infrastructure projects) of its share of the tax to the City of Gainesville “for uses… that Alachua County finds, in its sole discretion, have countywide significance.” Gainesville will have to submit a detailed request for each project.

Another $6 million will be allocated to all the municipalities, including the City of Gainesville. Each municipality can submit detailed requests for funds, but the ordinance does not address how the requests will be prioritized. This will be a one-time allocation of a total of $12 million, not an annual allocation.

The county estimates that the surtax will raise about $49 million in the first year, with almost $28 million going to the county, $17 million to the City of Gainesville, $1.35 million to the City of Alachua, $895,000 to Newberry, $861,000 to High Springs, $189,000 to Hawthorne, $156,000 to Archer, $124,000 to Waldo, $87,000 to Micanopy and $51,000 to La Crosse.

Alachua county residents have long complained about the condition of the county-maintained roads. Alachua County Commissioner Chuck Chestnut said that citizens have told the county to improve the roads with the existing money they are receiving each year. He said they have done so as much as they could, but that more funds are required to maintain the roads properly.

Peebles said the county can only have one surtax at a time, which is why the county commission is proposing a one-half percent sales tax for WSPP and another one-half percent sales tax for roads and infrastructure maintenance.

Alachua County Public Works Director and Engineer Ramon Gavarrette said that the cost for road work has increased by 30 – 40 percent and that many of the roads are failing. If this referendum passes, he said the county commission is targeting $50 million per year for roads, which will come from several sources.

Newberry City Commissioner Rick Coleman said his constituents were concerned about the county taking land off of the tax rolls and using the citizens money to do it.

Mayor Jordan Marlowe expressed concern that if voters buy into the system proposed by Gavarrette and he moves on to another city, someone else who comes into the job may throw out the old plan for a new one. Marlowe doesn’t want to keep developing plans—he wants the county to have a plan and stick to it. Coleman said buying land is not right, but something has to be done about the roads.

Newberry City Commissioner Tim Marden said the county’s priorities haven’t been right, but Marlowe pointed out that this is not the same county commission Newberry has dealt with in the past and pointed to several successful joint projects this county commission and the city have been able to accomplish recently.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ Giving back to the community and supporting children are the forces behind the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe. And on May 14 under a sunny Saturday morning sky, the club held their second annual Kids & Family Mini Golf Tournament at the Pink Flamingo Diner in High Springs. The event is organized to help raise funds for projects the Kiwanis support for the children of High Springs and Alachua.

After the Pink Flamingo Diner opened last year with a nine-hole miniature golf course, the club saw it as an entertaining way to raise funds and involve the community. Last year’s event featured teams divided into two categories of adults and children, but this year the groups were combined with no age limits. Eight teams played for high scores, prizes and bragging rights. The teams signed up in groups for an $8 entry fee for each adult and $6 for kids under 13. The Pink Flamingo kicked in half the entry fee to the club, raising $2,750 for Kiwanis projects.

The Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe is one local club out of the Kiwanis International, which was founded in 1915 by a group of businessmen in Detroit, Michigan. The name "Kiwanis" was coined from an American Indian expression, “Nunc Kee-wanis,” which means, “We trade.” In 1920, the motto of Kiwanis became “We Build.” It remained the motto until 2005, when members voted to change it to “Serving the children of the world.” In the early years, members focused on business networking, but in 1919 the organization changed its focus to service — specifically service to children. The organization now has more than 550,000 members in 80 countries. Worldwide the Kiwanis host nearly 150,000 service projects each year.

At Saturday's competition, the teams consisted of local residents, along with two teams from the fire and police departments in a friendly rivalry between city employees. The fire department won the competition and was awarded a trophy that is returned each year for the city employee team competitions. Local residents filled out the remaining teams, which they named.

The community effort had a number of local sponsors that provided services or funding. This year’s event sponsors included Pink Flamingo, Porta Serve, Campus USA, Waste Pro, Hampton Inn, Great Outdoors Restaurant, Winn Dixie, Capitol City Bank, and Thomas Weller, attorney. Prizes for first, second and third place were provided by Publix, Pink Flamingo Diner, Hitchcocks and Hardee’s.

The Gator Boys team took first place and a $100 gift card from Publix, a $50 Hitchcock gift card and Payday candy bars. Second place was won by the Dough Boys who received a $75 Pink Flamingo Diner gift card and a $25 Hardee’s gift card. The fire department took third place and received a $50 gift card from the Pink Flamingo Diner. A tie between the first and second place team forced a third-round playoff with the Gator Boys coming out on top with the last putt.

“This event has been a great success in helping raise funding for our projects” said Kiwanis President Tom Hewlett. “It's a fun event where the community can have a friendly competition and enjoy playing at this unique miniature golf field. We are grateful to all the volunteers, teams and sponsors, especially to the Pink Flamingo for providing the course to make this possible and we look forward to continuing the tradition yearly.”

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NEWBERRY ‒ The Newberry Watermelon Festival was back for its 77th annual celebration on Saturday, May 21.  The annual festival brought out thousands who enjoyed sweet and juicy watermelon, games and activities for the young and not-so-young alike, and entertainment.

The nation’s longest-running watermelon festival was held at the CountryWay Town Square. The festival featured more than 100 vendors offering items for sale, food and drink, nonprofits sharing information, and politicians promoting their 2022 campaigns. There was also plenty of activities for kids including bounce houses, face painting and pony rides. As in previous years, the free slices of watermelon were popular with the crowd.

The event started at 10 a.m. with a parade in downtown Newberry featuring floats sponsored by local businesses and organizations that included a golf cart decoration contest. At the Country Way Town Center, some 100 vendors lined the streets and at the gazebo, K Country 93.7 FM announced events along with singer and DJ Brandon McFarlan.

The previous week the festival committee had held its annual pageant for naming the annual Newberry Watermelon Queen, teen queen and junior queens.  Kensley Catelynn Durrance was crowned the 2022 Newberry Watermelon Queen, Ashlee Thomas was crowned the 2022 Newberry Watermelon Ms. Teen Queen and Laney Grinstead was crowned the 2022 Newberry Watermelon Teen Queen. The Newberry City Commission also awarded Bethany Barfield with a key to the city. Barfield was the Newberry Watermelon Queen in 2019 and then went on to win the Florida Watermelon Queen for 2020-21 before claiming the National Watermelon Queen title.

Watermelon festival traditional events included the popular pet contest featuring four dogs. Link, Duchess, Callie and Ellie Mae won prizes for Best Dressed Boy, Best Dressed Girl, Best Behaved and Best Overall, respectively. There was a hog calling contest and the traditional watermelon seed spitting contest that has been held every year featuring local politicians competing for bragging rights for the longest spit.

Last year, Alachua County Sheriff Clovis Watson, Jr. took the crown from Congresswomen Kat Cammack with a 23-foot mark.  The winning marks this year were much farther than Watson's record last year. Daniel Fisher, running for Alachua County School Board, launched a watermelon seed 41 feet. He won the contest with that shot, leaving Newberry City Commissioner Mark Clark in second place with 37 feet.

Newberry’s Watermelon Festival started in 1946 after the end of World War II.  A group of local citizens decided to hold a festival celebrating the area’s watermelon production and the Newberry Watermelon Festival was born. The event has now been held yearly on the third Saturday in May.  

The festival is organized and produced by a committee of local residents with the support of the city and business sponsors. The actual event is produced with a large group of volunteers, including Police Explorers who help manage traffic and parking. Sponsors provide donations either as cash or in-kind products. The festival also receives additional funds through a $5 parking fee. Some of the money raised funds four $1,000 scholarships for Newberry High School seniors to cover tuition and books to attend Santa Fe College. Any additional money goes to the schools for supplies and to the Red Cross for any local need that arises.

While last year’s festival was smaller due to COVID-19 health concerns, the crowds were back in full this year. Just like its beginning in 1946 after World War II, the festival again brought a sense of community and return to normalcy.

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HIGH SPRINGS – Opponents of the controversial mural project in High Springs spoke at the May 12 High Springs City Commission meeting to express their concerns about the pending project and related ordinance. Earlier in the week on May 9, a private meeting was held to discuss ways they could make sure City Commissioners were aware that the group objected to allowing murals in the city.

At the commission meeting, Wallace Simmons, Lance Verner, Deborah Simone, Janet Evans, and John Sterpe expressed their viewpoints, which included admonitions for the City to use the City of New Smyrna Beach’s guidelines for a mural ordinance and asking for guidelines on who would be responsible for maintenance of murals already in existence. Individuals also asked Commissioners not to allow murals or Walldogs to “desecrate our historic buildings,” and not allow the “enemy coming from outside High Springs” to paint murals.

Concern was also raised that Commissioner Ross Ambrose should recuse himself from voting on a mural ordinance because he is also on the Heart of High Springs board.

Heart of High Springs President Nancy Lavin phoned in to update everyone on projects and issues relating to the group. She said they would make sure everyone abides by historic preservation principles and that the group has raised money for replacement of the four “Entrance to High Springs” signs. “We are working with the downtown merchants in their Artwalk program and started a program to allow students looking for Bright Futures hours to work with their different programs and projects.”

Lavin also said that the group has raised $90,000 in pledges from individuals and businesses in High Springs that are in favor of the murals and $20,000 for the sign projects. Lavin also said the organization has already put in their order for the first of four entrance signs.

Ambrose addressed several issues that were listed in a handout provided to Commissioners. He read, “The Heart of High Springs has essentially forced the City to implement a mural ordinance to protect itself.” Ambrose said he thinks the City could have used it [a mural ordinance] to have kept the “Goggle Girl” mural from happening, something many citizens have said they dislike. “We could have used it then.”

Ambrose denied a conflict of interest, saying, “Because someone supports something passionately is not necessarily a conflict of a moral thing. You should have elected officials that are for certain things and advocating...Since I do not personally benefit, it’s hard for me to not do my job to represent part of a voice here in the community that does think that a mural project in the community is worth exploring.”

Ambrose added that he didn’t attend the meeting held earlier in the week because it was listed as a private meeting only to the people who were invited, and once he learned that Commissioner Jones would be in attendance, he thought it might not be good for two commissioners to attend.

City Attorney Andrea Parker responded that Ambrose could have attended as long as they didn’t discuss how they would vote on the ordinance being proposed.

Kristy Swilley addressed Commissioners and said she would have appreciated it if Ambrose had presented the potential conflict to the Board on Ethics and received a written response saying there was no conflict. Parker responded that she had presented the issue to the Commission on Ethics and was told there was no conflict of interest since there was no financial benefit to Ambrose.

Swilley said she would like to see a paper trail to that effect directly from the Ethics Commission.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ For many Americans, Memorial Day is a three-day weekend to travel, enjoy the outdoors or party. The original meaning of the holiday may be acknowledged, but oftentimes little is done to honor it during their weekend plans. For others, the true meaning of Memorial Day carries a more somber quality as we remember those who served and did not return as well as those who came back but have since passed. This is the real meaning of Memorial Day.

On May 28, the High Springs Lions Club will host a Memorial Day concert to raise funds for a Gold Star Monument in Gainesville. Although all who serve deserve respect and appreciation, those who did not come back deserve more in recognition of a life cut short by war, leaving families and friends to mourn the emptiness of their loss. Their families suddenly belong a singular group that no one wants to join, known as a Gold Star Family.

What sets Gold Star families apart and makes them special is the sacrifice they have made and the loved one they have lost in military service to the country. That death is not only a devastating loss of their loved one – it can often also seem like the loss of an identity, of a community, changing lives forever. There is another group that is strongly affected by these lives lost, and that group is their fellow soldiers who survived, remembering the comrades who didn’t come home.

Hershel “Woody” Williams was born on a dairy farm in 1923 in Quiet Dell, West Virginia. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Battle of Iwo Jima. Williams’ actions, commitment to his fellow service members, and heroism during Iwo Jima were recognized on Oct. 5, 1945, when he received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Truman at the White House. Williams is now the sole surviving Marine from WWII to wear the Medal of Honor.

As War II began, Williams came into direct contact with families in his own community when he delivered Western Union telegrams informing the Gold Star families of the death of their loved one. Williams says that those experiences gave him a “greater appreciation for life and an understanding of a difference in death in the normal world as expected in life, and those lost serving in the military for their country.”

Williams noted that “consideration and recognition of the families of those lost in military service was very inadequate.” This observation and his personal commitment to veterans and their families brought about the creation of the Woody Williams Foundation The foundation’s goal is to honor these families by creating large granite Gold Star Monuments in every state. To date, Williams and his foundation are responsible for establishing 96 Gold Star Families Memorial Monuments across the United States with more than 79 additional monuments underway in 50 states and one U.S. Territory. They are currently building one in Gainesville.

Eric “Roscoe” Mattingly is a 100 percent disabled veteran of the Iraq War who was injured during the battle for Taji. When he returned from the war and mindful of his injuries, he sought a career that was achievable. Mattingly had always loved music and earned a degree in Live Show Production from Full Sail University. He has continued producing music shows and as a veteran he became involved with the Woody Williams Foundation and their Gainesville project. By organizing a benefit concert to raise funds for the Gold Star Monument.

The High Springs Lions Club and the Military Vets MC Club have a large stage and plenty of audience space. They have hosted a number of benefit concerts at their location and were happy to coordinate with Mattingly to produce the show. Mattingly contacted regional bands he had worked with who would provide their time and talent for a concert. The concert will be dedicated in honor of four local soldiers who paid the ultimate price—including Sergeant Campbell, Lance Corporal Clark and Staff Sergeant Reiners.

On May 28, the High Springs Lions Club will host Mattingly's “Roscoe's Memorial Day Celebra-Jam” featuring four Florida bands. Starting at 2 p.m., The Huligans from Jacksonville will take the stage. Dustin Monk and the Hustle are another Jacksonville band. Trae Pierce and the T-Stones are based in Miami and are four-time Grammy winners. Jesse Smith is originally from High Springs but is now based in New Orleans and New York. His band, Jasper Smitty & Gumbo Funk will close out the concert.

The show costs $25, which, after expenses, will go to fund the Gainesville Gold Star Monument. The concert takes place at 26900 U.S. Hwy 27 in High Springs. Gates open at noon in an outdoor venue and chairs are suggested. On this Memorial Day weekend, this is a concert for a good cause to honor the soldiers who paid the supreme price and the shattered families they left behind.

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ALACHUA ‒ The Alachua City Commission approved at its May 9 meeting a voluntary annexation request by William and Margaret Kirkland. The property, located in the 15000 block of Peggy Road, is currently a vacant .54-acre parcel with an Alachua County Future Land Use Map (FLUM) designation of Agricultural and Alachua County Zoning designation of Rural Agriculture. Property annexed into the City retains its current unincorporated zone district classifications until a Future Land Use Map Amendment and change to the Official Zoning Atlas is adopted, and no development, redevelopment or expansion can be done until the amendments have been adopted.

In other business, the Commission approved a request by Tomoka Hills Farms, Inc, to amend the Future Land Use Map (FLUM) on 25.48 acres from Agriculture (6.42 acres) and Moderate Density Residential (19.08 acres) located east of CR 235A/Northwest 173rd Street and south of Northwest 162nd Lane.

The approved amendment changed the FLUM Designation to Moderate Density Residential on approximately 13.81 acres and Medium Density Residential on approximately 11.67 acres. The Moderate Density Residential FLUM Designation permits a density of up to four dwelling units per acre or a maximum of 55 dwelling units for the property; the Medium Density Residential FLUM Designation permits a density of four to eight dwelling units per acre or a maximum of 93 dwelling units for this property.

In related action, the Commission approved rezoning the 25.48-acre property to Residential Single Family – 4 (RSF-4) on 13.81 acres and Residential Multiple Family – 8 (RMF-8) on the remaining 11.67 acres. The Commission approved both requests on first readings with a second reading to be scheduled for a future meeting.

The City of Alachua has been awarded the Florida League of Cities 2021 Hometown Health Award for the third straight year. Lindsey Larson, Health Account Executive and Gwen Mahabir, Hometown Health Manager, presented the Hometown Health Award to the City Commission.

The award signifies that the City of Alachua has demonstrated commitment to employee well-being and has played a vital role in creating a workplace that supports a healthy environment and health-conscious culture.

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