Fort White: The Little Town of Fort White Was On the Cusp of Great Things – Then It Went Sideways – Sunshine Law & Other Violations Inspires Councilman to Resign
March 6, 2025 10:30 am | 7 min read
Councilmembers Kathryn Terry and Bill Koon review their
papers before the special meeting was gaveled to order.
Photo: Columbia County Observer
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(without photos)
Fort White, FL – The little Town of Fort White was on the cusp of great things – then it went sideways. Sunshine law violations and the threat of a citizen lawsuit hung in the air as the special March 3, 2025, Town Council meeting got underway.
Background
On February 21, Fort White Town Councilwoman Kathryn Terry and Fort White Councilman Bill Koon availed themselves of the Town Charter granted privilege of calling a special meeting. The notice is here.
As reported earlier, the two Councilmembers stated clearly the purpose of the special meeting:
• 1. Review appointment of District 2 Council member for compliance with the Town Charter...
• 2. Review and establish an appointment process for vacant Town Council seats so that fair and legal appointments can be made to the Town Council.
For more information leading up to the special meeting and the weeks of turmoil under Mayor Thomas, see: Fort White In Turmoil: Mayor & Temp Agency Clerks Jettison Rule of Law To Fill Vacated Council Seat.
The Columbia County Charter mirrors the way elected officials may call special meetings:
"Special meetings may be held on the call of the chair or two (2) or more commissioners. Upon call for a special meeting, the County Manager shall give adequate public notice of the time, place, and purpose of the meeting… Action by the Board of County Commissioners at a special meeting shall be limited to the purpose for which the special meeting was called.”
These are the general rules all over America, including Lake City, whose ordinance states in relevant part:
“…The notice calling the special meeting shall state the date and hour of the meeting and the purpose for which such meeting is called, and no business shall be transacted at such meeting, except such as is stated in the notice.”
In Georgia (the state just north of Columbia County and Lake City), the Georgia Municipal Association explains how a special meeting is called:
The Mayor or Council can call for an unscheduled special meeting. The City Charter usually states who can call a special meeting… "Public notice must be given, and the meeting may only cover topics related to the specific purpose of why the meeting was called.”
The March 3 Fort White Special Meeting:
“In like a lion, out like a lamb.” The month is not
over.
Dennis Rivera at his seat at the beginning of the
speical meeting.
As the March 3 Fort White special meeting got underway, Mr. Rivera was sitting at the dias with a newly minted name tag. Councilman Bill Koon called a point of order, "With all due respect to Mr. Rivera, we have not voted him in to be in that seat, and he should not be in that seat."
Councilwoman Terry followed up a few moments later, "I'd also like to see Mr. Rivera removed from the table since he is the topic of discussion and the vote itself."
Changing the purpose of the special meeting
After listening to Councilmembers Terry and Koon, without any standing in law, in a room with standing room only, Mayor Thomas asked for a vote to memorialize his illegal act of changing the purpose of the special meeting. He found Councilwoman Merricks and the illegally and newly appointed Councilman Dennis Rivera to grant the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” on his act of changing of the purpose of the special meeting.
The new purpose: “Review Council Member appointment…” What the Mayor had under his flak jacket sleeve was the claim that Councilwoman Terry was appointed the same way as Councilman Rivera, and if Mr. Rivera goes, so should Ms. Terry.
After the vote to change the purpose of the meeting, Councilwoman Terry said to the Mayor, “You're sabotaging the whole process. If this is my last meeting, I can be fine with that. But if, if the Town of Fort White accepts the way you're running the government, I don't even have words for that.”
Councilman Koon questioned the way the unwritten candidate scoring system was both facilitated and the counting of the votes out of the Sunshine. About the ballots, Mr. Koon said, "They opened them up back there – somewhere.” "Back there" was in the dark in the office, out of public view. It is unknown when the votes were opened or tallied. In Florida, secret ballots by elected public officials doinng the public's business is against the law.
Your reporter made a public record request for the Clerk’s tally sheets. They have not been forthcoming.
Fort White resident Lonnie Harrell, one of the candidates for the vacant seat in which Mr. Rivera was now seated, had threatened a lawsuit to stop Mr. Rivera from occupying his seat on the Council.
Mayor Thomas, while taking a lot of heat, allowed public comments to be heard throughout the meeting, and comments there were.
Fort White resident Dana Pascerella saw a lot wrong with
the scoring.
Dana Pascerella commented about the candidate scoring to the Mayor, “It's not cool, it's not okay, and it needs to be redone. It needs to be scored fairly. You need to be transparent with everybody. Sit here and do it right now. Pull those sheets out and score them fairly. All of them fairly, right now. No disrespect to you.”
Commissioner Rocky Ford, who lives in Fort White, said, ”The way y'all done it is clear violation of the Sunshine Law… I thought your attorney probably would have brought that idea, brought that to y'all.”
County 5 Commissioner Rocky Ford, a Fort White resident,
challenged the appointment process.
Mr. Ford continued, “The way it was done: it was done at the end of the last meeting. The mayor called out our assistant clerks in the back, ‘Who won?’ She calls out, “Well, mister Rivera won. Who wants to swear him in? I'll jump up and swear him in. The Mayor jumped up and swore him in. Alright, this meeting’s adjourned. No vote, no nothing. That is not how it's done.”
Shelly Brown, who does not live in the Town, represented the thoughts of many as she told the Council that the Town was an “embarrassment.”
Shelly Brown reflected the sentiment of many who reside
outside of the Town limits.
Ms. Brown reflected the thoughts of many who don’t live in Fort White, but are attached to it, as it is where they vote, send their kids to school, shop, and play sports. Even though the Town has a small footprint, it is the heart of South Columbia County to many.
Ms. Brown said, “I live in the community. I don't live in the City of Fort White, so sometimes I feel like I don't have a say, and I really want to, because I shop here; our kids went to school here; we're huge advocates of doing things in the community. I love Miss Kathryn’s ideas. She's got wonderful, awesome ideas; I love this Town; our family loves it. I'm very disappointed… I'm sorry I don't know you. I don't know Mr. Rivera, but I really was excited to see you come in as a mayor.”
“I was so happy to see a new council start, and all the drama to go away, and it's worse than ever… That's sad. I'm sorry. It's so sad and so not explainable in my eyes… We're an embarrassment to Columbia County. I hate to say this. I love our Town. I want to see us be like High Springs. But no, we have to have all this drama.”
“I'm done with it. I so want to have a nice, happy community like so many of y'all want. And I love us. I want us to get along. I'm going to go home and pray about it.”
More Talk
Town Attorney Lindsey Lander, who had his fill of
Columbia County politics, in a pensive moment before the
meeting was gaveled to order.
There was more talk. Town Attorney Lindsey Lander weighed in. The Town is his client. Mr. Lander’s MO is not to interfere in the Town’s business unless asked. He is not the Town parlimentarian.
Mr. Lander explained that the votes were opened in the “sunshine.” It appeared that he had better vision than everyone else in the room.
His explanation that the votes were opened and counted in the Clerk’s office and everyone could see what was going on was a ‘little’ over the top. It was impossible to see what was going on in the Clerk’s office.
The view inside the Clerk's office where Attorney Lander
said the vote count could be seen. The photo was taken
as Mr. Lander explained that he could see it.
Most of the explanations that Mr. Lander gave were based on hearsay, and all the appointments of the vacated seats on the Council were not done the same way as Mr. Rivera’s and Ms. Terry’s.
On February 28, 2023, Jason Florence was appointed by the Council to fill a vacated seat. The meeting minutes are silent about how and where the Councilmember votes were tabulated. However, the minutes are clear:
"Based on voting tabulation Mr. Jason Florence is nominated to fill the vacant Town Council seat. Motion to approve made by Councilman Koon and a second by Councilman King. Motion passed unanimously."
The Council voted to appoint Mr. Florence. Attorney Lander would not have known this. He was absent from the meeting.
Mayor Thomas also would not have known this unless he had searched for the facts.
It is also important to know that on the evening Mr. Rivera was appointed, his appointment was not on the agenda, and neither was it added, which would have required a vote by the Council.
Mr. Rivera
An hour into the meeting Mr. Rivera stood up and spoke.
Dennis Rivera announcing his resignation from the
Council.
A career NYPD police officer, whose resume stated that he had “college credits in law enforcement” at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (it is unknown if Mr. Rivera received any degree), must have known that the cards were stacked against him: two council members were opposed to his appointment; the community thought his selection process was bogus; thought his appointment was an embarrassment; some thought the Mayor had stacked the deck for Mr. Rivera; it was clear the ballot counting process was against the law; his appointment was not on the agenda and was not added to it; and there was the promise of a lawsuit against his being seated.
An experienced police officer, Mr. Rivera, listened to the community and saw them eye to eye. Mr. Rivera resigned from his Council seat citing the lack of respect and the need for a fair process.
Mr. Rivera said, “I'm just going to step down. If you guys want to have another election the way you're supposed to have it, whatever that is, you know, I'm fine with that. If I get voted in or I don't get voted in, I'm okay with that… Let’s just be respectful… We need each other.”
Epilogue
Lonnie Harrell told the Council that he was not going to sue the Town.
On March 17, at 6 pm, in the Fort White Community Center, the Town Council meets again.
One item on its docket will be to come up with a fair selection process.
Stay tuned.
Updated March 3, 2025: fixed typos