Fort White – Tuesday Night at the Town Council: Residents, non-residents, and the glitterati were in attendance – to dissolve or not to dissolve?
February 19,
2026 12:30 pm | 9 min read
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Columbia County Observer photo and graphic
FORT WHITE, FL – On Tuesday evening, Columbia County glitterati came out in force to see those who live in the Fort White Zip Code, 32038, particularly those in and around the Town limits, tell the Town Council, ‘We don’t want to dissolve.’
The meeting centered on a contentious proposal to dissolve the Town of Fort White and revert its governance to Columbia County.
Councilman Bill Koon started the "dissolve the Town"
ball rolling.
About 140 people showed up for the Town workshop, which was instigated by Town Councilman Bill Koon, a Columbia County employee. Councilman Koon, who, during the last Town Council meeting, attempted to walk on a vote, without any public notice, to pass a resolution to “dissolve the Town.” This means the Town would, after a long process ending in a vote by the Town's residents, unincorporate and be fully controlled by Columbia County, which has its own major governance issues.
The Town of Fort White has 411 registered voters (SOE Tomi Brown, 1-26-2026). It has a Columbia County public school, a high school, a few shops and businesses, a few gas stations, and one traffic light. Because of its proximity to the many Florida springs and the Santa Fe River, the Town plays an important role in the lives of those who live within and outside the Town limits.
North Florida legend Dale Williams was in attendance. He
is now with North Florida Professional Services.
The Town of Fort White collects no property taxes from its residents; instead, it lives off grants and revenue sharing from the state and, most recently, the transfer of money for special projects from the County government.
The Town government, after the election of George Jacob Thomas as Mayor, a man without any municipal governmental experience, saw all its institutional knowledge leave (resign) from the Town (town clerk, assistant clerk, attorney) shortly after Mr. Thomas’s election and interaction with the Town staff.
The Town now flies by the seat of its pants, controlled by special interests, discord, and the inability to have productive Town Council meetings to conduct Town business.
County 5 Chairman Tim Murphy came to see the action.
The Workshop
Monday’s meeting was another example of a Town Council meeting which alternated in and out of control, with shouting out (blurting) and conversations from and the audience, speakers not identifying themselves, and councilmembers blurting out and not being recognized to talk, the last of which is a serious problem with the County Fathers at the infamous County 5, run by County Chairman Tim Murphy.
The meeting kicked off with a presentation by North Florida legend, former Columbia County outside auditor-financial consultant-budget preparer (all one person)Richard “Dick” Powell, who, along with another North Florida legend, former County Manager Dale Williams (known in many circles as “Mr. Columbia County”), controlled County finances for decades.
Richard "Dick" Powell, who at one time was N. Florida's
'go to' auditor, gave a surprise presentation.
Mr. Powel, a surprise guest who was not on the evening’s agenda, gave a five-year financial overview of the Town’s finances. It is unknown what financial records he used and how much he was paid. Mayor Thomas announced he asked Mr. Powell to appear.
Mr. Powell provided a positive assessment of Fort White's fiscal health. Using five years of data, he showed the Town consistently increased its fund balance, e.g., "profit."
Mr. Powell highlighted that the Town has no debt and grew its reserves from eight months of expenditures to sixteen months over five years. He clarified that restricted funds, like gas taxes, were irrelevant to general reserves because they were fully expended on eligible costs. Mr. Powell dismissed concerns about Town debt, attributing some of the confusion to accounting mechanics related to inter-fund transfers.
Mr. Powell gave the Town a clean financial bill of health.
The Purpose of the Workshop: Should the Town
Dissolve?
The web notice, 100% non ADA compliant
Town of Fort White Presiding Officer Kathryn Terry
attempts to lower the chatter of the attendees as
Councilman Harrell contemplates.
The purpose of the workshop was “to discuss and receive public input about un-incorporation (dissolution) of the Town and have it absorbed into Columbia County.” (From the undated Town notice).
Mayor Thomas, who has his hands in the everyday business of the Town, allowed the web notice to be posted to the Town website, with the notice being 100% ADA non-compliant.
It was anticipated that the first orders of workshop business would be, by a simple show of hands, how many of the attendees were residents of the Town and how many were residents of the Zip code.
North Florida Professional Services President Greg
Bailey looks on. His engineering firm has contracts tied
up accross N. Florida.
Neither the Town Clerk, the Mayor, nor the Presiding Officer prepared a roadmap (agenda) outlining the order of business for the meeting.
Forty minutes into the meeting, Councilman Harrell finally asked for a show of hands of Town residents, “just so we know.”
About a third of the attendees raised their hands.
Mayor Thomas followed up, “Everybody who resides inside the town, how many of y'all, by show of hands, do want to see Fort White dissolved?”
There were no hands. There continued to be blurting from both the Councilmembers and the audience.
Many of the “out-of-towners” were recognized to speak. Those who blurted out from the audience were never identified, had a lot to say, and were unintelligible at the rear of the room.
Clint Pittman, County Landscape and Parks Director, and
a "grapevine" candidate for County Commissioner of
District 2, listens.
The overwhelming sentiment from those who lived outside the Town was that they were in love with the one traffic-light town and the small-town atmosphere, but they didn’t want to pay for it. Town Councilman Lonnie Harrell is a big proponent of “no taxes.”
When Councilman Bill Koon raised the specter of sewer fees inside the Town, someone shouted out from the audience that they should stop building the sewers.
Another audience member volunteered that the water in the town was no good.
That remark went unanswered by the Council.
Columbia County has been responsible for the Town’s water for the past four years, and most recently the Town water system has been run by the North Florida Water Utility Authority, an outfit that, as of the time of posting of this article, doesn’t include its phone number on its sub-par website. Any Town resident who needs customer service and wants to speak with a human being is just out of luck.
County Commissioner Rocky Ford, whose district includes Fort White, is the Chairperson of the Utility Authority. The Authority has 359 customers, of which over 300 are in the Town of Fort White.
County PIO Dennis Rivera (left),
North Florida Water Utility Authority Ex. Dir. Shannon
Roberts, and County Manager David Kraus listen to
Richard Powell's presentation. None of them volunteered
that the water plant in the Town was their
responsibility.
Notable Quotes
Mayor Thomas gestures.
Mayor George Jacob Thomas
“I heard there was a lot of anxiety... 'oh, we're losing money'... But, you know, it turns out the situation is actually the opposite." — George Jacob Thomas
Councilman Bill Koon
"I'm the one that brought this to the board. I'm not in favor of the board resolving. I'm telling the residents, if Fort White keeps going the way they're doing, we're going to impose some kind of tax. Are citizens willing to pay that extra tax to keep Fort White incorporated?" — Bill Koon
Councilwoman Kathryn Terry
"We need a qualified clerk. We have advertised… we are currently up to offering $65,000, which is a very low salary, and we've got pretty much zero to no names in the hat." – Kathryn Terry
Bonnie Blackwell gives advice.
Bonnie Blackwell (not a Town resident)
“If you are on the council and you're in favor of dissolving the town of Fort white, I ask that you work very diligently to find a replacement for yourselves and resign your positions... because once it's gone, you're never going to be able to get it back."— Bonnie Blackwell
Councilman Lonnie Harrell
“For this growth to happen, we're going to have to grow the government. It's going to cost more money. And the answer is called an ad valorem tax."—Lonnie Harrell
Unidentified (Town resident)
"I feel safe in a small town... I go to Lake City as little as possible... getting bigger government there... It's just more taxes... Let's keep it a small town as long as possible."—Unidentified
Councilwoman Merricks answers
Councilwoman Monica Merricks
"Well, could it go back to just everybody has their own septic tank? ... [Response] Well, it's inevitable. The DEP wants the sceptics off the screen. It's the environmental issue... the sceptics are leaking into our aquifer. We have to get them off of the springs."— unidentified speaker & Monica Merricks
Jacque Sulek (Town resident)
Ms. Sulik recommended "communication."
"Let's get together as a community and communicate."—Jacqueline Sulek
Epilogue
In plain English: The Town needs to get its act together
Notwithstanding the disorder and dysfunction, the two-hour meeting revealed the important issues facing the Town of Fort White.
The Town is financially solvent with 16 months of reserves, zero debt, and consistent surpluses. However, it faces a structural governance crisis: no attorney, no qualified clerk, no code enforcement, and significant board dysfunction.
Jody DuPree, County Commission District 2 candidate,
listens.
The imminent $22M sewer project will bring growth that the Town is not currently equipped to manage. Attendees overwhelmingly rejected dissolution, but the underlying fiscal and operational challenges that prompted the discussion remain unresolved.
The path forward hinges on hiring key staff, aggressively pursuing grants, and restoring board functionality.
In plain English: the Town needs to get its act together, or there will be no Town.