MediaUpdate

​By Lee Pinkoson / Special to The Sun
   
When it comes to fire/rescue, public safety should be the No. 1 concern for both the Alachua County and city of Gainesville commissions. Unfortunately, money is the driving force in our current discussions with the city regarding the Fire Service Assistance Agreement (FSAA).

It is important for both citizens and commissioners to understand the history of the FSAA. For decades, the two fire departments had been crossing jurisdictional lines to assist citizens. For decades, the county paid the city because they responded in the county more often.

When the city successfully annexed the area around Southwest 20th Avenue, the financial dynamics changed. Due to the location of County Station 19, the county was now responding to more calls into the city. For the first time, the city had to pay the county.

Even though the annexation brought in more tax revenue, paying the county did not sit well with the city. This reversal of payment was the turning point for the FSAA. The conversation became about money instead of public safety.

Contrary to the spirit of the FSAA, the City Commission at that time (completely different than the current commission) approved stationing a two-person squad at a nearby hotel to intercept calls normally handled by Station 19. It was a move motivated strictly by money.

The FSAA, as intended, was providing a high level of service to the citizens in this area. This breach of trust resulted in the pendulum swinging back to the city’s favor to the tune of approximately $2 million per year. This number does not include approximately $1 million in uncompensated responses currently provided by Station 19 into the city.

The county decided that implementing the Fire Master Plan, which calls for new fire stations to serve the growing population in the unincorporated area, was a better use of tight dollars and would lessen the county’s dependence on the city’s fire department.

The FSAA expires on June 1. The county has continued to be open to discussions on how to best serve the public. In recent months, the County Commission was rebuffed twice when suggesting that they meet with the City Commission to discuss the agreement. Even at this 11th hour, the county continues to work for a compromise that keeps the safety of our citizens as the No. 1 objective in both the short and long term.

County Manager Michele Lieberman recently sent a proposal to City Manager Anthony Lyons that includes terms that would be equitable to both parties, utilize resources efficiently and provide a high level of service to our citizens. The plan includes:

1. The co-location/relocation of city and county resources to decrease the number of cross-jurisdictional responses. It would also be a positive move in the direction of consolidation, a move supported by our citizens. The city would save many millions of dollars by not having to build two stations.

2. The county will continue to implement its master plan, placing new stations in areas, which will lessen the city’s responses into the county.

3. The manager proposed basing response reimbursement on the actual cost of a response, as opposed to including the fixed costs of operating and staffing a station. Including fixed costs in the reimbursement formula is inherently inequitable. Dividing the number of responses by the total time committed to incidents would be a fair and equitable arrangement.

4. With the deadline looming, the manager proffered a 90-day stop-gap agreement. This agreement will allow time for details to be finalized and brought to the respective commissions for approval. During this period, cross-jurisdictional responses will be compensable to both parties and reimbursement will be based on the time committed to incidents.

The city and the county work successfully together on many issues. These successes most often go unnoticed. Due to differing perspectives, cities and counties sometimes disagree. I am hopeful that in this case, for the safety of our citizens, we will put our heads together and resolve this issue.

Lee Pinkoson is chairman of the Alachua County Commission.

​By Cleveland Tinker 
  
Alachua County officials have said they plan to continue to budget more money for road repairs. However, more is needed to adequately repair and maintain county roads, they say.

Valerie Thomas, who lives on a county road just east of the Gainesville city limits in the Copeland community, has worried about its safety for years.

The road is Northeast 27th Avenue on the south side of Northeast 39th Avenue, and Thomas says it’s been in poor condition for decades. Like her neighbors, she drives daily on the road donated to the county by property owners sometime in the 1960s or 1970s.

Thomas said potholes riddle the right-hand lane on the road, which causes drivers traveling in both directions to dangerously use the left lane along a stretch of the road, said Thomas, a lifelong Copeland resident.

Residents throughout Alachua County drive on roads in need of repair.

The overall cost of county road repairs is $380 million from estimates made in 2014, said County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete.

How to pay for repairing county roads has been a major concern for the County Commission for more than a decade. Voters have more than once opted against tax referendums to pay for the road repair backlog in Alachua County.

The County Commission in fiscal years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 increased funding from its general fund to pay for improving deteriorating roads. In addition to gas tax funding, the commission increased its general fund contributions to improving roads by more than 27 percent in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, up from $2.6 million in fiscal year 2015-2016 to $3.3 million.

County officials have said they plan to continue to budget more money for road repairs. However, Gavarrete said more is needed to adequately repair and maintain county roads.

The county needs to budget at least $15 to $17 million for road repairs annually to eventually bring its roads to an acceptable standard and be able to schedule regular milling and resurfacing projects to maintain the road surfaces at acceptable standards, Gavarrete said.

“This is not possible until an infrastructure surtax is passed in this county,” Gavarrete said.

In the meantime, county officials plan to increase by 10 percent a year the amount they’re budgeting for road repair, though the increased funding will be used mostly for pavement preservation projects, Gavarrete said.

Here are details about current road projects:

• Tower Road — This project will include milling and resurfacing Tower Road from Archer Road to Southwest Eighth Avenue. The $3.2 million project includes adding bus turnouts at some stops, turn lanes, a multi-use path on the east side of the road from Southwest 26th Place to Southwest Eighth Avenue and rehabilitating the pavement. Work began May 6 and is expected to be completed in November.
• Northwest 43rd Street — This project will include milling and resurfacing Northwest 43rd Street from Newberry Road to U.S. Highway 441, and will include making American with Disabilities Act modifications, adding a left turn lane at Northwest 82nd Avenue and extending the right turn lane at Northwest 39th Avenue. The project has a budget of $7.5 million and is expected to begin in July and completed in June 2019.
• Southwest Eighth Avenue — Expected to be completed in early 2021, this project includes resurfacing Southwest Eighth Avenue from Tower Road to a new road segment at Southwest 61st Street, constructing a new road to connect Southwest Eighth Avenue and Southwest 61st Street, resurfacing Southwest 61st Street from Southwest 20th Avenue to the new road segment, constructing a new intersection with a signal light at Southwest 20th Avenue and Southwest 61st Street and construction of a six-foot wide sidewalk on the north side of Southwest 20th Avenue from CVS to the Interstate 75 overpass and construction of an 8-foot wide sidewalk on the north side of Southwest 61st Street to I-75. The project is expected to cost $13.8 million.

As for Northeast 27th Avenue, Gavarrete said he isn’t aware of any “unique issues” and hasn’t received any major complaints about the road, but public works have received normal complaints about the road like tree-trimming and normal potholes, but nothing major.

He said the Public Works Department received a request for a sidewalk on the road a couple of years ago, and that there are no current plans for the road besides regular maintenance.

The sidewalk is the No. 4 project on the county’s bicycle and pedestrian priority list, which will be updated in the upcoming fiscal year. The estimated cost for the sidewalk is $480,000, Gavarrete said.

The condition of the pavement, the traffic volume and the rate of deterioration of Northeast 27th Avenue doesn’t place it on the list of the county’s road repair priorities for the next 10 years, Gavarrete said.

The road was donated to the county by property owners sometime between 1963 and 1977, and Feb. 1, 1978, is the last documented date any resurfacing work was done on the road, Gavarrete said.

Thomas’ memory matches the county’s documentation.

“There has been no real maintenance on this road since its installation approximately 40 years ago,” Thomas said.

​By The Gainesville Sun editorial board
   
If done right, Gainesville’s plan to become a “zero-waste city” should be good for both the natural and business environment.

In March, the City Commission deadlocked on a ban of single-use plastic bags and Styrofoam containers that is part of that effort. The tie vote might have been a blessing in disguise, providing more time to get affected businesses on board with the ban and figure out ways to lessen its impact on their bottom lines and prices.

The Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce board recently approved a resolution applauding the city’s effort to develop a master plan with the goal of being a zero-waste city by 2040. It noted that other communities have received national attention for similar efforts that included public-private partnerships and the use of new technologies.

The resolution was a welcome shift away from the tension of recent years between the chamber and local government. Hopefully it signals a greater recognition by the businesses community that Gainesville’s efforts to better protect the environment can be used to everyone’s advantage.

Working toward becoming a zero-waste city might help attract businesses that put a premium on environmental protection, particularly those that convert waste into usable products. The Alachua County Commission has already approved $2.7 million for a resource recovery park to help attract such businesses, although questions have been raised about whether the plan was thoroughly vetted before the vote.

The city of Gainesville would be better served by a more meticulous approach to its zero-waste plan, which would help get buy-in from business owners as well as other members of the public. The advocacy group Zero Waste Gainesville has called for the city and county to fund a strategic plan that includes an audit of the local waste stream and prioritizes recommendations to reduce waste based on factors such as their impact and cost.

Our community can do better than a recycling rate that has hovered around 50 percent in recent years, short of the state’s goal of a 75 percent rate by 2020. Improving the recycling rate at apartment complexes and other multi-family dwellings, which is currently in the single digits, would help reach that goal.

Local residents can have a direct impact on reducing waste not only though recycling and composting, but also through refusing items they don’t need and reusing items when possible. Lobbying businesses to eliminate waste also helps.

When customers “skip the straw” or turn down Styrofoam containers at restaurants, or press grocery stores to eliminate wasteful packaging and frequent ones that do, they show that reducing waste is good for business. The city would help businesses cut waste by facilitating efforts for them to join together to buy environmentally friendly containers in bulk.

Both the business community and general public play a critical role in helping Gainesville become a zero-waste city. Eliminating waste to help protect the environment is something that everyone should be able to get behind.

​By Cleveland Tinker 
  
Tree planting near three sites, Fort Clarke Middle School, Kanapaha Middle School, and the Boys and Girls Club off Northwest 51st Street, will begin in early summer.

The tree canopy in Alachua County will grow to provide shade in areas where children walk and bike frequently.

The first three sites for tree-planting projects on a list created by newly hired County Arborist Lacy Holtzworth will be in the median of Fort Clarke Boulevard near Fort Clarke Middle School, along Tower Road near Kanapaha Middle School and off Northwest 51st Street near the Boys and Girls Club of Alachua County.

The projects were approved by the County Commission on Tuesday, while eight others on the list were put on hold until the commission adopts a policy for the Alachua County Tree Planting Program.

“Everything starts with the schools,” Holtzworth said. “We want to make sure the kids walking to and from school are covered with shade.”

Tree planting at the three sites will begin in early summer, and will feature a variety of 15-gallon trees, including cypress, live oak, magnolia, Southern Red cedar and other trees that should grow to be about 60 feet tall, she said.

The trees will be planted with funds from the tree-planting program established in 2002 by the County Commission.

The program has approximately $258,000 in its budget.

Besides planting trees near schools and places frequented by children, Holtzworth said she wants to partner with cities throughout the county to plant trees in their communities.

Commissioners agreed that’s a good idea, with some stipulations.

Commission Chairman Lee Pinkoson suggested trees from the program planted in cities should be near county-owned roads and Commissioner Ken Cornell said they should be planted in downtown areas and near schools.

The county hosted an Arbor Day ceremony a couple of weeks ago to launch its new tree-planting program, and several volunteers attended to help with the planting at a county-owned parking lot in downtown Gainesville.

During the ceremony, Holtzworth said trees are one of this community’s gems.

“Ask any visitor what they remember most about Gainesville and Alachua County, and you’ll hear about our magnificent trees, she said. “They are one of our most unique and memorable assets.”

Those interested in volunteering with the program should call 352-548-1266.

​By Cleveland Tinker

Road projects, funding scenarios for the Newberry Community Redevelopment Agency, public safety issues and plans for a countywide trails program will be topics of discussion at a joint meeting with the Alachua County and Newberry City commissions.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Newberry City Hall, 25440 W. Newberry Road.

​ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. (WCJB) - A proposed ordinance in Alachua County could extend the waiting period for gun sales from three days to five. This comes after county and statewide discussions sparked by February's tragic school shooting in Parkland...

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​By Cleveland Tinker 
  
‘Cooling off’ period would go to five days; police, permit holders may be exempt

A proposed county ordinance governing gun sales could soon mean longer waits for those transactions.

The ordinance would impose a five-day waiting period on firearm sales in the county, replacing the current three-day waiting period. It also would require that a buyer’s criminal history be checked by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement before the sale.

“The interest in changing the ordinance was part of a statewide and nationwide discussion about gun laws that was sparked by the shooting tragedy in Parkland in South Florida,” county spokesman Mark Sexton said.

Commissioners will invite the public to weigh in on the proposed ordinance at a hearing. No date has been set, but Sexton said it should be in about a month.

Soon after the Valentine’s Day mass shooting that left 17 students and school staff dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the County Commission on Feb. 27 passed a resolution asking the governor and state legislators to change state laws that block counties from adopting local gun control measures stronger than those required by the state.

Two weeks later, commissioners asked interim County Attorney Sylvia Torres to draw up the new gun sales ordinance.

During a March 13 meeting, Torres said state legislation governing waiting periods used to apply only to handgun sales, but now applies to all gun sales after Gov. Rick Scott signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act in early March. The new state law also raised the minimum age to buy a firearm in Florida from 18 to 21.

Also, the old state law applied only to licensed gun sales and was known as the “gun show loophole” because unlicensed gun sales weren’t required to involve criminal background checks.

The new state law now applies to all gun sales at flea markets, gun shows, pawn shops and other places, Torres said.

Torres said she reached out to Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell, State Attorney Bill Cervone and law enforcement agencies throughout the county to gain insight on how enforceable the new county ordinance will be.

Darnell said after reviewing the proposed ordinance, her agency asked county officials to include an exception to the waiting period for law enforcement officers.

In a letter to Torres, Chief Ed Book of the Santa Fe College Police Department also recommended that state concealed-weapons permit holders also be exempt.

Book also said the ordinance will be hard for officers to enforce.

The proposed ordinance would replace one adopted in 1993, which besides adding three-day waiting period, prohibited anyone — except law enforcement officers — from carrying firearms into county-owned buildings.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB)- Hurricane season begins on June 1st and historically is most active during the later summer months. National Hurricane Preparedness Week takes place through this Saturday and is the perfect time to have everything you need ready to go in the event of a storm...

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