Lake City News
Index of stories
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 29, 2010 05:30
am)
County
resident, Laura "I really love Lake City" Pitman
Moody, came to the Downtown Master Plan public
meeting with pictures, magazine articles and a
ton of ideas... Over the past thirty five years,
there have been at least three downtown
redevelopment or revitalization plans...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 23, 2010 06:30
am)
The City Financial Team and Raymond James Bond
representatives met this week to complete the
required interviews with “Credit Rating”
Agencies... The final budget changes resulting
from the last two weeks of Staff reviews is
nearing completion...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 19, 2010 05:15
am)
During the past few months a great deal of
discussion has occurred involving the future use
of the old City Jail and property. Council had
declared the property surplus to the City's
needs and authorized demolition of the jail and
gas department buildings... Councilman...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 10, 2010 12:25 pm)
During the last 12 months our conservation
measures really paid off. The City's electric bill was reduced by
$231,944 from the previous 12 month period. This
represents a 19% reduction for the past year...
(Scroll down this week's
staff report for more important
information).
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 9, 2010 009:25 am)
Lake City put its best foot forwarded last night as it
hosted the monthly Suwannee River League of Cities
dinner. Municipal members from the counties of Columbia,
Dixie... packed the room to listen to the Board... One
of the highlights of the evening was the cooking mastery of Lake
City's own Councilman, Jake Hill - the Barbeque
King...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted July 3, 2010 10:35 am)
The airport project consists of a new 6,000 sq.
ft. multi-use airport terminal building and
adjacent asphalt vehicle parking areas, a 1,100
foot access road... The Energy and Operational
Enhancement Project - substantial savings can be
realized through improved efficiency....
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Columbia County, FL (Posted June 27, 2010 10:15 am)
The City continues to be busy with the budget.
This week we met to make sure that we are
connecting all the dots and are moving in the
right direction. We also met with the bond
underwriter. We’re on schedule and things are
looking good. I also put out a call for
estimates. (The Observer
spoke with Mr. Johnson for this week's City
Manager's report)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted June 25, 2010 10:20 am)
At yesterday morning’s governmental focus group
the Columbia County Commission was invited and
chose not show up, not to send the County
Manager or any other representative of the
County government. The lack of County interest
in the downtown of Lake City continues.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted June 20, 2010 06:00 am)
At the
request of the City, Jones Edmunds Engineers,
Inc. has completed a Structural Engineering
Assessment and issued the final written report
on June 15, 2010... Budget ... No later than
July 19, 2010, the Staff will distribute the
draft budget and request Council to approve a
proposed millage rate for TRIM Notice purposes.
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Columbia County, FL
(Posted June 5, 2010 11:45 am)
Grayson Cason,
Executive Director of Admin. Services: "We are
all working together to prepare these reports.
These reports are our yardstick to see how we
are doing."
(The
June 6th staff report is available here)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted May 22, 2010 07:40 am)
The Staff will move aggressively to develop the
capital improvement schedule for streets,
curbing, sidewalks and storm water upgrades and
intends to begin work within the next 90 – 120
days... To supplement this effort the Staff has
initiated discussion for a $750,000 block
grant...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted May 15, 2010 04:15 am)
The FY2010-11 Budget Workshop process continues
at 5:30 pm this Monday night. In contrast to the
previous meetings, this workshop will spotlight
the potential financial impacts resulting from
the further decline of General Fund revenues.
|
 Columbia County, FL (Posted May
13, 2010 09:50 am)
Following in the tradition of Lake City's
popular Mayor, Steve Witt, the star of the
review process was Chairperson Ann Skinner, who
took the Mayor's gavel and kept Lake City's
policy of timely public comment and the free
exchange of ideas alive. Unfortunately, over the
ninety day tenure of the Board, only a handful
showed up from the public to observe or
participate.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted April 24, 2010 05:25 am)
As reported last week, the Sales Tax and Utility
Bond initiative is progressing as planned. The
Request for Funding Proposals (RFP) process exceeded
expectations and 10 proposals were received on Monday,
April 19, 2010...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted April 23, 2010 02:55 pm)
Decision time is on the horizon for the Lake
City Charter Review Board, whose decisions may
well affect the future of Lake City for the next
ten years and beyond. Last night, in the absence
of Chairperson Ann Skinner, charter review
veteran and Vice Chair, Mario Coppock led the
review board in its usual high level of
discussion.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted April 18, 2010 10:25
am)
With a budget workshop on tap for Monday night,
City Manager Johnson told the Observer: I
encourage the public to attend all budget
meetings and city council meetings. We have
staff available to answer your questions and
Lake City values your contribution.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted April 9, 2010 11:00 pm)
The IBI Group, Inc. was chosen by the CRA as
the top ranked firm to prepare the Plan Update.
The City Staff has completed negotiations with
IBI representatives for a not-to-exceed fee of
$94,100 and the contract was approved by the
Community Redevelopment Agency and City Council
on April 5, 2010.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted March 28,
2010 • at 09:15 am)
Staff work on the Employee Classification and
Pay Plan is complete following several months of effort
The final document will be distributed to Council for
initial review...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted March 19,
2010 • at 11:55 pm)
Long
time purchasing agent, Debbie Garbett, announcing
who submitted the Fleet Management Services RFPs. Ms. Garbett told
the Observer, "We put everything we request on
the
City website and on
Demand Star. We want to
be able to make the best deals for the people of
Lake City. Sometimes the best...
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Columbia
County, FL (Posted March 10, 2010 at 09:25 am)
 OJ
Lake and Victoria Ellis share a light moment as the
legendary Herbert Darby explained that there are still
parts of the charter that he is trying to understand...
Chairperson Skinner, like the Mayor who appointed her,
will be representing Lake City's open style of
government well.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted March 6,
2010 • at 05:00 am)
Although the State Revolving
Fund (SRF) was previously viewed as the most viable
financing option, we will evaluate the potential for use
of a new form of bonds known as Build America Bonds
(BABs)... An owner representative of the Blanche
contacted me late this week and delivered the “as built”
construction plans... The IBI Group of...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
March 3,
2010 • at 08:55 am)
City Manager Johnson
told the Observer, "I have a vision for downtown
Lake City. It is a dream... It has to be researched...
Step one has been determined... The most important thing
right now is the safety of the people that are using and
visiting the building. That is the main reason
that I did this. The structural analysis is a small
price to pay to assure that they are safe.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
March 1,
2010 • at 09:30 am)
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 27,
2010 • at 11:15 am)
This Monday night, the City Council will weigh in
with its thoughts and its vote on whether to accept the
responsibility of the engineering study.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 26,
2010 • at 10:57 am)
By Stew Lilker
 Late
Thursday afternoon, Lake City again showed that it is
leading the way into the 21st century in Columbia
County, when the three finalists came before the City
Council to present themselves and their ideas on why
they should be chosen to develop Lake City's CRA Master
Plan. All were at the top of their game and the cream of
the urban planning and design crop.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 20,
2010 • at 7:30 am)
The City staff and local
community volunteers are planning the 2nd annual “Take
Pride in Your Community” Cleanup Campaign. This “Green
Team” event will take place from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00
noon on April 24, 2010 staging at the Richardson
Community Center.
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 13,
2010 • at 8:00 am)
The planning
draft of the new City Personnel Manual has
been on-going for several months and is
approximately 40% complete. The new policy
will provide information ...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted
Feb 5,
2010 • at 9:00 am)
On the City Manager's docket this week
are the February Projects and Activities
Report, a few more words on the awards
banquet and all the department reports.
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Lake City, FL (posted
January 30, 2010, at 07:am)
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Lake City, FL (posted
January 29, 2010, at 07:am)
The
2010 Lake City awards banquet is more than
just another Lake City annual awards dinner.
2010 marks the beginning of a new era and a
major changing of the guard for Lake City.
This year's awards committee chairperson was
one of Lake City's own Sunshine girls, City
Clerk, Audrey Sikes (photo), the nonvoting
member.
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Lake City Airport Terminal moving ahead
Blanche
Hotel and Bond Debt remain on
City Manager's docket
Columbia County, FL
(Posted January 23, 2010)
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Lake City, FL (posted
January 21, 2010; 11:15am)
Capt. Rudolph Davis
In the United States, employees without a written
employment contract generally can be fired for good
cause, bad cause, or no cause at all. Florida is an
"employment at will" state. This means an employee in
Florida can be fired -- "because." In Florida it is
established law that no reason has to be given. An
employee can be fired because his employer just "feels
like it."
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Bond Debt and the Blanche
Hotel
take center stage this week
Columbia County, FL
(Posted January 16, 2010)
The bond review
continues ... At this time I am pleased to
report the City has a very favorable
position ...
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Columbia County, FL (Posted January 9,
2010)
At the year's first City Council meeting the
Council approved the “Water, Wastewater and
Reclaimed Water Rate Study.” The City Attorney
and Staff are proceeding with the legislative
and public notice activity. The
implementation process should take 90-120 days.
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Posted December 28,
2009
by City Manager Wendell Johnson and
staff
(The adoption of the rate study was tabled until
January, after Utility Director, Dave Clanton,
discovered some inconsistencies in the numbers. As
reported earlier, the unpopular availability fees are on
tap to go away. -- ed.)
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Posted December 11,
2009
by City Manager Wendell Johnson and
staff
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Posted December 9,
2009
Lake City Manager Wendell Johnson is on a roll with
the Lake City Reports. See what the Lake City government
is up to. If you are curious to know how many record
requests were handled by the
Sunshine Girls, or are interested in how many police
calls were handled by the Lake City police department,
or even how many gallons of water Steve Robert's state
of the art water plant pumped, the Lake City reports is
the place to go.
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Columbia County, FL (posted
November 17,
2009)
By Stew Lilker
Monday night's City Council meeting began at 6:15
with a short workshop and a few words from the city's
utility consultants,
Tetra Tech, regarding the proposed elimination of
the city's utility accessibility fees.
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Columbia County, FL (posted
October 21,
2009)
This unlucky creature did not escape the Blanche Hotel. The
Lake City Fire Department and the Observer want to make
sure this doesn't happen to you.
Go to Photo Gallery
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Columbia County, FL (posted
October 09,
2009)
By Stew Lilker
The Lake City ad hoc Blanche Hotel Committee met on
Wednesday, October 7th. The committee members, Council
members Melinda Moses and George Ward and City Manager
Wendell Johnson were joined by police chief
Rigby-Gilmore for the important discussion. The purpose
of the meeting – bring back a proposal to the City
Council regarding the Blanche Hotel.
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Columbia County, FL (posted
Sept 17,
2009)
By Stew Lilker
The Sept.14 Lake City utility committee ran smoothly,
quietly and professionally. Everyone from the city knew
what they were talking about. City Manager, Wendell
Johnson (blue shirt and tie) addresses County Com DuPree
with his reservations about running the county utility
at Ellisville. The entire city council attended this
important meeting.
The City of Lake City has been in the utility
business for a hundred years. There have been some
bumps, big bumps, along the way. The city utility is now
run and managed by a team of professionals and soon,
along with its world class water plant, will also have a
state of the art and up to date sewage treatment plant.
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Columbia County, FL (posted March 16, 2009)
by Stew Lilker
City Clerk, Audrey
Sikes, sorts through the city's electronic data base of
digitized records.
Gov. Charlie Crist has proclaimed this week “A
Week of Sunshine” and urged Florida’s citizens to
celebrate Florida’s dedication to making state and local
government accessible and transparent to the public.
Two weeks ago the Observer interviewed Lake City’s
own Sunshine Girls, City Clerk Audrey Sikes and Deputy
Clerk Michelle Green. The City Clerk’s Office serves as
a beacon of sunshine for all of Columbia County and is
no doubt what the Governor had in mind when he
proclaimed “A Week of Sunshine.”
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Lake
City – There will be a plan
River League of Cities
County
Commission MIA
Lake City
abuzz