Local

James Steve Holley’s promotion comes at a tumultuous time for the city, as it follows the recent resignations of Benck, Commissioner Eric May, former city attorney Tom DePeter and the city’s engineering firm of Jones Edmunds.

After providing two weeks' notice, Benck was directed by Langman to leave on Thursday, Jan. 26, just days after he tendered his resignation. According to personnel action reports, Langman promoted Holley the next day on Friday, Jan. 27, from a police officer to a sergeant.  She said the reason for Holley’s promotion was because the police office was understaffed.

During Monday’s city commission meeting, Langman announced that Holley had been promoted again, this time from sergeant to police chief earlier that day.  Over the span of three days, Holley went from being an officer to the chief and his salary increased from $18.10 hourly to $55,000 a year, the equivalent of a $17,000 annual increase of nearly 46 percent.

Alachua County Today attempted to contact interim city manager Jeri Langman to clarify the city’s hiring process as well as other personnel matters occurring in the city, but as of press time received no response.

The Monday meeting, which had previously been scheduled to hash out a memorandum of understanding with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) to assist in running the city’s police department, was cancelled just minutes after it started. Those details would have included bringing a deputy from ACSO to fill the position of Interim Police Chief until a permanent one could be found.  But with Holley’s promotion, city officials felt there was no need for the extra assistance the agreement could have provided.

When Benck resigned, Langman said she put out a request for anyone within the city that was qualified.

“It was important to me that we find someone here already, familiar with the department and who knows what to do,” she said.

Holley’s fellow officers, Langman said, felt that he was the best man for the job.  He was the only one who applied.  The new chief will bring a different managerial style and a sense of community to the city, said Vice Mayor Bob Barnas during Monday’s meeting.

Holley has 33 years on the job, with experience as a patrol officer, sergeant and a K-9 officer. He plans to focus on the police officers by providing them with new equipment and new training. Holley wants the officers to attend no cost salary-incentive courses taught at local institutions, focusing on courses such as Injury and Death Investigation, Traffic Homicide and Case Preparation.

“I will be a working chief,” Holley said. “In order to send someone to school, I have to take over their shift.”

The 20^th annual Farm Toy Show and Antique Tractor Parade will take place at the school from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will be hosted by the Newberry Lions Club and the North Florida Antique Tractor Club.

Dealers will display and sell both toys and collector’s items. The annual tractor parade put on by the North Florida Antique Tractor Club will take place in the afternoon.

According Lions Club member Mindie Fortson, there will also be a slow tractor race, a blindfold tractor race, a concession stand and a baked goods table.

Admission to the show is $3 for adults and $1 for students. Children who are pre-school age can get in free.

The proceeds from the event will be used by the Newberry Lions Club to fund their sight conservation projects.

The Newberry Lions Club is one of more than 50,000 Lions Clubs in 205 countries working to eradicate preventable blindness.

May’s resignation comes amid intense political unrest in High Springs, where just last week, Interim Police Chief William Benck resigned, giving two weeks notice, and was then dismissed immediately by Interim City Manager Jeri Langman.

The night before May resigned, Langman effectively canceled a meeting in which the commission was to consider a partnership with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) to help run the High Springs Police Department.  Langman promoted Officer Steve Holley to a sergeant Friday then to Police Chief on Monday.

In an email, May was specifically critical of Langman’s actions, writing, “Decisions such as our interim manager's electing to terminate a police chief, promote a friend within the department -- unilaterally in the chief's absence --to the rank of sergeant, then going on to name that person to chief of police on the same day the city was to approve a memorandum of understanding with the Sheriff's Office to bring in an outside, interim chief are just scratches on the surface of the problems we have here.”

He also accused Langman of playing favorites with commissioners.  “For me personally, I have fallen victim to the manager neglecting to inform me of meetings and appointments and being left in the dark on information that is being fed to other commissioners,” he wrote.

In his letter to High Springs City Clerk Jenny Parham, May wrote, “…the direction our city has taken in recent months has caused me to reevaluate the impact completing my term would have on my life, including my family and my personal health.”

The former commissioners said in his letter that the city was on an “irreparable course filled with continued cronyism complimented by unethical and illegal behaviors.” The likes of which, May said he, “Simply could not have any personal part of.”

“It breaks my heart to see what is going on in our town but I, as one commissioner, do not have the ability to change the city’s course and cannot stay on board and take on the liability that will be assumed in the coming months.”

May seemed to call on the current commission to take responsibility, writing, “remember, it doesn’t matter who created the problems, it’s just our job as a city to fix them.”

He wrote in an email that he was being denied avenues to obtain pertinent information, “all the while my phone rang off the hook with more bad news on the other end.  Often it was a concerned citizen who witnessed such cronyism as a commissioner's political supporter being preferred for a job or another discouraged from applying.  Other times it was a city employee speaking confidentially of the unethical or questionably-legal behaviors the city manager or her cronies were performing at city hall.”

As for his accomplishments as a commissioner, May said he stood proudly behind them.

“Since joining the commission in November 2009 I have undertaken the mission of cutting wasteful spending and attracting jobs to our community.  I personally championed a commercial tax abatement program that is unmatched in our local area and I’m happy to report our annual budget was reduced over a half a million dollars annually – not an easy feat given a city our size.”

He is also largely responsible for arranging to have audio recordings of the commission meetings placed online and open to the public.

His departure will likely leave Commissioner Sue Weller as a lone wolf on many issues before the commission.  Weller said Tuesday that she would continue to serve.  “The voters of High Springs elected me to serve a three year term, and that’s what I intend to do,” Weller said.

Having been elected in 2009, May said he already made the decision he would not seek re-election when his term was set to expire in November 2012.

He said he was sad to leave office and felt like he was letting the citizens down, but added, “I cannot … have my name and reputation attached to the antics that are absolutely tearing this city apart.

“I am incredibly humbled to have had the opportunity to serve as a city commissioner,” May wrote.

HIGH SPRINGS - Commissioner Eric May has submitted his resignation to the High Springs Commssion in a letter slated to be opened by City Clerk Jenny Parham on Tuesday, Jan. 31. 

In an email to the media, May gave additional details about his decision to step down from the commission, writing, "I as a commisioner was being denied the avenues to obtain pertinent information all the while my phone rang off the hook with more bad news on the other end.

"Often it was a concerned citizenw who witnessed such cronyism as a commissioner's political supporter being preferred for a job or another discouraged from applying.  Other times it was a city employee speaking confidentially of the unethical or questionally-legal behaviors the city manager and her cronies were performing at city hall," he wrote in the email.

Read May's entire resignation letter here.
PDF view required to view this document.

Construction of the baseball park is 65 percent complete

Today the fields of Nations Park lie silent, but in a few short months the cracks of bats connecting with balls will fill the air.

NEWBERRY – For months, Newberry has created local buzz about the construction of Nations Park, a state-of-the-art baseball complex just south of the city’s downtown.

The $7 million project is now 65 percent complete, according to City Manager Keith Ashby. He estimated that construction would be completed in March, which leaves two months for the turf to mature. The completion of the park will bring in not only crowds for summer camps, but also economic development.

The 16-field baseball park will hold tournaments this summer. The first tournament begins June 22, according to Kyle Donnelly, who is in charge of baseball operations at the park.

Donnelly, who goes by Don, said the success of the baseball park is not a hope but a certainty.

There have already been signs of the success of the park. The Red Wok Buffet, a Chinese restaurant located in the Hitchcock Plaza off State Road 26, recently opened, and another restaurant, Firefly, is to open in March, Ashby said.

A new commercial and residential complex to be built south of Oak View Middle School has also been approved. The City is currently pursuing another Community Development Block Grant to bring infrastructure to the complex.

There will be opening ceremonies for the baseball park on the weekend of June 30. The celebration will begin at 10 a.m. with a parade of teams through downtown Newberry, Ashby said. A ribbon-cutting ceremony, complete with fireworks will also take place during that weekend at the park.

Nations Park was built by a company affiliated with Cooperstown Dreams Park, a New York baseball park that draws crowds from around the country. The hope is that Newberry’s park will have similar results.

“There is a lot of development excitement that has been generated by both the Archery Center and the Nations Baseball Complex,” Ashby said.

HSPD Chief William Benck works in his office Wednesday afternoon.  Benck submitted his resigation effective the first week of February.

HIGH SPRINGS – With political unrest at a fever pitch, High Springs Interim Police Chief William Benck submitted his resignation Monday afternoon.  Benck is joining a growing list of officials and contractors parting ways with the City.

The interim chief’s initial resignation on Monday was a short 18 words.  But in a second letter on Tuesday, Benck said he learned that Interim City Manager Jeri Langman was not “completely satisfied” with the brief nature of that communication.  He then provided a list reading like a dossier of the issues over which he took exception.

In his second letter of resignation, Benck alleges that at a meeting of the High Springs Police Department (HSPD) officers Langman made insulting comments.

Specifically, he wrote, “…You told them you wanted this town to be more like Mayberry and they should be more like Andy and Barney…Mayberry does not exist in 2012, the world has changed since the early sixties, there is more traffic, people and crime.

“There were 164 officers killed in the line of duty in 2011, any officer attempting to emulate the style of Andy or Barney in 2012 runs a great risk of joining the ranks of fallen heroes,” he stated in the letter.

Benck’s resignation follows a series of disagreements he had with the recently-appointed Interim City Manager.  The latest dispute apparently came Jan. 18, when Langman had a letter hand delivered to Benck with instructions on when he should be working.

“…I am also requesting that you are either at the office performing your duties or performing patrols during normal office hours,” Langman wrote in the letter.

“I have requested that you or your staff notify me when you are outside the City of High Springs during your working hours for more than 1 hours and indicate who will be in charge of the department during this time,” she wrote.  “As a head of our High Springs police department, you report directly to me, therefore you must inform me of any vacation time prior to taking this and you must also advise me when you are out of the office and unable to perform your duties.”

Benck suggested that Langman was part and parcel of a violation of HSPD policies when she purportedly met with one of the chief’s employees behind closed doors.  “If the chain of command is to work it must work in both directions,” he wrote.

He also sharply criticized Langman for essentially overturning the firing of an officer.  “At the time, this employee was on probation, which allows for termination if it is believed that the employee’s performance is substandard, which it was and continues to be.  You would not allow this regardless of the above opinions and again, the support of the city attorney.” Benck wrote.

In a Jan. 23 memo, a frustrated Benck fired back at Langman’s assertions about his schedule writing, “I attend and conduct training anytime from 7am during the week to 7pm on Saturdays.  My phone rings and I respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Regardless of your position or rank in law enforcement, there are no normal office hours.”

In that same letter, he also takes Langman to task on her directives stating, “…I would think you would meet with me to discuss what needs this department has and how we can meet those needs to better serve all the citizens of High Springs.  This meeting has yet to take place.  Sending letters requesting changes that you do not understand can be damaging to this department.”

Benck also suggests Langman is micromanaging him, detailing several instances in which she provided specific instructions on law enforcement matters.  Benck noted that on Jan. 13, Langman asked him to create a directive instructing officers to act on the city’s noise ordinance, only after an incident involving one of her friends and the The Great Outdoors restaurant.

On Dec. 30, Langman asked Benck to establish a task force to quell reported problems of “young drivers” drag racing in their trucks and destroying the road with all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) during the weekends.

Benck objected to that in his resignation, writing, “You sent me an e-mail instructing me to form a task force to address a problem with ATV riders and young drivers on a roadway near your neighborhood.  I explained to you in my response that a task force was not needed and that increased patrols and selective enforcement would handle the problem.  This is [standard operating procedure] in law enforcement, and it accomplished the goal.”

Benck’s concerns with the department seemed to be echoed by former HSPD Chief James Troiano.  In an interview Tuesday, Troiano said, “My concern is that the safety of citizens of the City of High Springs is now in jeopardy.”

“They don’t have adequate staffing, now they’ll have no leadership.  It’s time for them to either hire qualified staff or turn it over to the Sheriff,” he said.

Troiano resigned from HSPD on Sept. 9, 2011 after the city sought to cut the police department’s budget and his salary.  Benck was tapped to replace Troiano on an interim basis.

Benck was a veteran police officer of nearly 30 years with the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) until 2010 when he retired and a short time later, joined HSPD.  His resignation is effective Feb. 6.

Complete documents below

PDF viewer required to view these documents.

Benck Resignation #1

Benck Resignation #2

Langman on Benck's office hours

Langman on ATVs and task force

Langman on Noise Ordinance