Ten-year-old Parker Stevens, right, reacts to the unexpected bitter flavor of Mayan chocolate, a not-so-sweet member of the chocolate family.

 NEWBERRY – It didn’t take too long for a handful of attendants to volunteer at the Newberry Branch Library when chocolate was involved.

Newberry residents got the chance to taste and interact with the sweet candy at the library on Wednesday when Gainesville chocolatier Kay Owens and her assistants presented The Mystery and History of Chocolate, a production that has been traveling around Alachua County libraries this past month.

The presentation at the Newberry branch was one of the smaller performances, Owens said, but she still thought the show went well and the kids seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Tuesday’s presentation at the Millhopper Branch Library on Tuesday brought in over 60 spectators, she said. The opening presentation at the Alachua County Library Headquarters earlier this summer drew over 100.

“We’ve been drawing big crowds,” Owens said.

The informative performance was interactive and asking for several volunteers from the audience. Newberry’s 10-year-old Parker Stevens raised his hand high when the crew asked for a brave volunteer.

He was called to the front of the room to try Mayan chocolate, an early chocolate that contains cornstarch and very little sugar. Parker said his favorite type of chocolate was the type that was mixed with peanut butter. One spoonful of the special Mayan chocolate and the look on his face changed to one of disgust.

“Oh, my gosh,” he said, “it tasted like oatmeal.”

The first chocolatiers, the Mayans, didn’t have sugar and milk to mix in to the now traditionally sweet confection, Owens explained to the audience.

Even adults enjoyed and learned from the show.

“I didn’t realize they discovered it,” Melissa Bass said of the Mayans. The 33-year-old Newberry resident is no stranger to chocolate. She had stayed at The Hotel Hershey in Pennsylvania, where they had chocolate scented body wash and shampoos in each room.

Another spectator and volunteer, West Palm Beach 16-year-old Gaby Gianoli, first attended one of the performances this week because her sister, 21-year-old Francesca, was one of Owens’s assistants.

Gaby attended both the show at the Millhopper library as well as the performance at Newberry’s library. She was in town for a month, but was more than happy to go to the performances, where chocolate was given out at the end.

“I got lucky that she does this,” Gaby said of her sister’s work with Owens.

Besides educating the audience about the history behind chocolate and advocating the preservation of cacao trees, Owens also makes chocolate.

Owens said she plans on opening up her own chocolate shop called Drenched in Chocolate this September in the Millhopper area in Gainesville.

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“Each and every vote that this commission makes has a consequence,” Langman said. “I hope that the commission and the citizens realize we need sound budgetary practices without the puffery.”

When preparing for the budget process, commissioners advised Langman and Finance Services Director Helen McIver to be conservative, to not count unconfirmed revenue and to keep all department expenditures in line with the current year’s budget.

Although the city’s centralized sewer system is anticipated to add 75 new users in the near future, revenue from these users will not be calculated into the budget because the project has not yet gone out to bid. As a completion date is not in sight, Langman opted to leave out the potential revenues to avoid facing a shortfall because of incorrect projections. Since January, High Springs commissioners have expressed aggravation over decisions made by previous commissions to include unconfirmed revenues in the budget.

Facing a 5.9 percent decrease in ad valorem taxes, Langman said the City will have to raise millage rates by 6.9 percent to keep the general fund balanced. She also suggested increasing sewer rates by $16 per user, per month, in an effort to balance the sewer fund and eliminate the need to supplement sewer operations from the general fund.

Two of the City’s enterprise funds have been trending downward for the past nine months, Langman said. While the water fund and the solid waste fund operate at a profit, the sewer continues to lose money. In an effort to balance the sewer account, funds were transferred from water and solid waste revenues.

After the City balanced its enterprise funds, the general fund continued to show a deficit, she said. In response, the City decreased department head salaries to $50,000 annually, eliminated two full-time employees and decreased fire department volunteer staff and equipment. In addition, employees on City health insurance will be required to pay $20 more per pay period, totaling $780 per year.

“It’s time for us to rethink the City and hit the reset button,” Vice-Mayor Bob Barnas said.

With several lawsuits and complaints against High Springs still ongoing, the City faces possible additional costs. Langman warned the commission Tuesday of a potential $50,000 increase in expenditures if the Florida Supreme Court rules that municipalities, including High Springs, have to pay back employees for retirement accounts.

Commissioners decided not to vote on the proposed budget during the Tuesday meeting, instead they agreed to push back the decision until the July 31 meeting.

After the city manager explained the budget, Commissioner Sue Weller made a motion to table the agenda item discussing ad valorem rates until the Aug. 2 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

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 ALACHUA – The Alachua City Commission voted at the Monday, July 23 meeting to pay $300,000 to the Lion’s Den Adult Boutique to settle the company’s lawsuit against the City and to keep the would-be sex shop from opening in the city.

In October 2010, the Lion’s Den first submitted paperwork to open a sexually oriented business in the former Scultura building near Waffle House.  The same building had been home to The Western Teepee, a western clothing store, for many years before it closed in 2005.

The settlement, which passed by a vote of 4-0, will be paid for with a combination of insurance funds and the City’s general fund.  The insurance will pay $145,125, and the remaining $154,875 will come from the City’s general fund, which is primarily supplied by tax dollars.

The settlement provides conclusion to the months-long dispute between the Lion’s Den and the City of Alachua, which began shortly after the City passed a “Gateway Ordinance” prohibiting certain businesses, including sex shops, from operating within a 2,000-foot radius of the U.S. Highway 441 and Interstate 75 interchange.

On Sept. 9, 2011, the Lion’s Den filed complaints with the U.S. District Court seeking a declaratory judgment, injunctive relieve and monetary compensation because of the perceived unfairness of Alachua’s “Gateway Ordinance,” filing an additional complaint on March 28.

After the court denied the Lion’s Den’s motion for injunction on April 17, the Lion’s Den and the City of Alachua entered into mediation to resolve the issue.

Adam Boukari, Assistant City Manager for the City of Alachua, said the city agreed to the $300,000 payment in order to avoid future legal costs.

“The city commission agreed to the terms of the settlement because it was at the recommendation of legal counsel that it would be fiscally prudent to agree to the terms,” Boukari said.  “Further, the city commission found the settlement to be in the best interest of the city and its citizens.”

According to Boukari, the City will have spent $47,978 in legal fees regarding the Lion’s Den case once all attorneys’ fees are paid.

The settlement stipulates that the City will pay a lump sum of $200,000 to the Lion’s Den within 15 days of Tuesday’s approval of the settlement.  The final $100,000 will be paid on or before Jan. 15, 2013.

The Lion’s Den is not the first adult novelty story that has attempted to set up shop in the City of Alachua.  In 2003, Adult World leased space formerly known as The Huddle House, also near I-75.  That company battled it out with the City for several months before the City agreed to settle the matter for $25,000.

Adult World owners opened the doors for business, landing them in jail after City of Alachua officials said they violated the law by not having a properly issued business license in the city.  Unlike Adult World, the Lion’s Den never opened its doors, or even finalized permitting for the store.

At the meeting, Commissioner Gary Hardacre expressed pleasure at the solution of the dispute.

“Though it cost us a little bit of money to guarantee that this isn’t going to happen, now we have a gateway ordinance that will stop that,” Hardacre said.  “We will not have to look at the Lion’s Den when we drive into our community off of I-75.”

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The first business would involve selling electric motorbikes in a small building on NW 250^th Street. While the business would only create one job, it is a positive business to bring to the area, Newberry City Planner Lowell Garret said.

The four commissioners in attendance voted to approve the economic development incentive sponsorship for the business, waiving a $6,500 fee required to amend land development regulations.

The second business discussed was an RV park, which would be built just east of Cedar Estates. The commission voted by a 3-1vote to table discussion on the economic development incentive sponsorship for the RV park until the next commission meeting.

Commissioner Alena Lawson voted against tabling discussion on the basis that the commission had just passed an economic development incentive sponsorship for a business that will only provide one job, and to table discussion would be unfair to the RV park business owner.

“I don’t think we’re being fair to the applicant,” Lawson said.

By sponsoring the RV park, the commission would be waiving a total of $15,500 in application fees. City Manager Keith Ashby said the amount of time needed to process each of the three applications required to build the RV park was unavailable, but he would have it ready for the next meeting.

Each application would have to be approved separately, but the sponsorship would merely waive the fees required to undergo the process.

The economic development sponsorship program will be up for discussion in December. At that time the commission can decide to continue, discontinue or modify the program.

“To date, I think it’s been wonderful,” Commissioner Jordan Marlowe said at the meeting. He also noted that possible changes to the applicant vetting process may be included in the December discussion concerning the program.

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